2001-05-02
I'm sure that when the day comes that the industry starts using the binary
prefixes, Microsoft can write a program that can be downloaded and when
installed, would display all the hard disk and memory capacities in the
binary prefixes.
So, what is IEEE waiting for? If what you say is true and the intended use
of the binary prefixes is for within the industry, what sense would it make
to use the prefixes, but then "convert" everything to the present confusion
for the consumers. I'm sure what would be used inside the industry would be
used outside too. No?
John
Keiner ist hoffnungsloser versklavt als derjenige, der irrt�mlich glaubt
frei zu sein.
There are none more hopelessly enslaved then those who falsely believe they
are free!
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832)
----- Original Message -----
From: "James R. Frysinger" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Cc: "U.S. Metric Association" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Wednesday, 2001-05-02 18:14
Subject: [USMA:12592] Re: WSJ letters
> It's a mixed bag in the industry, Greg. Apparently MB sometimes means
> 1000 times 1024 bytes, sometimes it means 1024 times 1024 bytes. The
> statement by IBM was an attempt to clarify their use of the symbology.
>
> The link that Bill Potts provided gives binary prefixes approved by IEC,
> but not yet by IEEE. The intended use is for work within the industry
> and almost entirely for storage devices. The commercial impact is nil in
> the retail market since storage has become so cheap that with a 40 GB
> drive, few people care (or can determine) whether that's actually 42.95
> x 10^9 bytes or merely 40.00 x 10^9 bytes. The differences in the ways
> that individual operating systems report memory (or even different
> programs within the same OS) further cloud the issue.
>
> Jim
> member, IEEE/SCC14
> Chair, IEEE/SCC14.3
>
> Gregory Peterson wrote:
> >
> > I've seen in the small print of the IBM adds something like this:
> >
> > "For hard drives 1 GB means 1 billion bytes"
> >
> > Maybe they're finally coming around to using SI prefixes for SI
quantities?
> >
> > greg
> >
> > >>> "Bill Potts" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> 2001-05-02 11:23:33 >>>
> > Jonathan Dowling wrote:
> > > Yes, but they should be. This problem (that a "kb" is
> > > actually 1024 bytes) annoys me greatly because having
> > > to explain to people that "k" always means 1000 unless
> > > you mean computer bytes confuses them, reinforcing the
> > > belief that the metric system is complicated.
> >
> > See http://metric1.org/binprfx.htm.
> >
> > Bill Potts, CMS
> > Roseville, CA
> > http://metric1.org [SI Navigator]
>
> --
> Metric Methods(SM) "Don't be late to metricate!"
> James R. Frysinger, CAMS http://www.metricmethods.com/
> 10 Captiva Row e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Charleston, SC 29407 phone/FAX: 843.225.6789
>
