Millimeters as a standard in a particular industry are great, since no unit specification is needed, and conversions can be readily made to units one is more comfortable with, but I find it hard to believe that they somehow speed metrication. It's really driven by the realities of the industry (builders need a consistent, unambiguous set of units) rather than the unit itself. Look no further than the US film industry for the ineffectiveness of the millimeter path: cinematic film formats may be given in mm, but the length of the film stock has always been measured in feet, hence the word "footage."
Remek
