The context-sensitive distinction between a kilobyte, 1000 bytes, and a kibibyte, 1024 bytes is, finally, a straightforward one, neither difficult nor arcane; and it is now required.
When the computing community was small and composed of people having scientific educations it was gratuitous: context switching was easy for them: a kilometer was 1000 meters and a kilobyte was 1024 bytes. The IT community is now large and comprised of all sorts of people, most of whom are ignorant of its history and much else. A disambiguating distinction was necessary, and it has been made. In situations of this kind the needs of the unlettered must come first. The word 'inflammable' does not mean 'cannot be set aflame'; some of the unlettered nevertheless sometimes judged that it did; the case for disambiguation, for using 'flammable' instead, was thus compelling; and the change was made. As Quine put the matter, "Semiliteracy, however offensive, is not a capital offense". John Gilmore, Ashland, MA 01721 - USA ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [email protected] with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
