James, I trust that your comments will get a favourable response from Microsoft. Unfortunately, I am reminded of a "light-bulb" joke:
Q: How many Microsoft engineers does it take to change a light bulb? A: None - darkness will become the new standard. -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of James Frysinger Sent: 14 May 2008 17:42 To: U.S. Metric Association Subject: [USMA:40918] Micron at Microsoft Microsoft Research has released a beta version of its new program WorldWide Telescope. I downloaded it from http://www.worldwidetelescope.org/ and installed it. Not too far into my exploration of this, on a guided tour regarding M81, I came across a problem. I used the onsite "bug" reporting system to report it and what I said is quoted below. Jim I have just started to explore your new WorldWide Telescope program and it strikes me as having amazing potential in education. (I am retired from the Dept. of Physics and Astronomy at the College of Charleston in Charleston, SC.) As an educational program, it should do things correctly. I call your attention to the page on "SI Units", published by the International Astronomical Union at http://www.iau.org/science/publications/proceedings_rules/units/ There, you will see the micron listed in Table 6 as a unit deprecated for continued use. Yet, in the M81 tour, hosted by Dr. Wong, the micron was used extensively. The proper unit name is micrometer. Forty years ago, in 1967/68 the 13th CGPM passed CR 105 which abrogated the unit name micron (Metrologia 1968 4, 43). While the AAU is somewhat stuck in a previous epoch, the rest of the world now rarely uses the unit name micron. I encourage you to abstain from teaching an error by publishing material with obsolete terms. Please use only the SI and use it correctly in your program and its materials. -- James R. Frysinger 632 Stony Point Mountain Road Doyle, TN 38559-3030 (H) 931.657.3107 (C) 931.212.0267
