> > Disk capacities do not come naturally in powers of two.
> > So it is not convenient, and it is not correct, there is
> > really no reason whatsoever, to use G = 2^30 in such a context.
>
> Yes there is: consistency in context. We are talking about
> computers, and everything else is in powers of two.
>
> Tossing in ONE device and having it measured differently is insane.
Unfortunately it's not just one device. Think about modems, network cards,
etc. Quick, how long should it take to send a megabyte across a 10Mbps
link? .8 seconds?
As the average American has yet to grasp the metric system, this is asking
kind of a lot. It seems inevitable that even memory will eventually be
measured in normal metric multiples - why sell a 256 meg DIMM when you can
sell a 274 meg one at the same price? Eventually only us programmers will
ever need to use the 2^10 ~= 10^3 conversion. Hell, your average
application programmer today doesn't really understand pointers or bitops
anymore (the only place the binary scheme size scheme is useful) so that
will probably eventually fall by the wayside as well.
Maybe we should change the units.. I propose prefixing the SI prefixes
with "b" for binary.
On second thought, forget that. Lets fight this trend to the death,
instead.
-- "Love the dolphins," she advised him. "Write by W.A.S.T.E.."
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