Linked by Thom Holwerda on Wed 30th Jan 2013 00:38 UTC
Marco Arment: "Everyone should play by the same rules. A proposal: storage capacities referenced or implied in the names or advertisements for personal computers, tablets, and smartphones should not exceed the amount of space available for end-user installation of third-party applications and data, after enough software has been installed to enable all commonly advertised functionality. With today's OSes, iPads could advertise capacities no larger than 12, 28, 60, and 124 GB and the Surface Pros could be named 23 and 83 GB." Wholly agreed. When I buy a box of 100 staples, I expect it to contain ~100 staples - not 50 because the other 50 are holding the box together.
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RE[8]: Let's also standardize on binary units.
by Brendan on Wed 30th Jan 2013 18:50
in reply to "RE[7]: Let's also standardize on binary units."
Member since:2005-11-16
Hi,
Most everyone here should know that improper use of units is obviously ambiguous. The inconsistency is appalling when mixing units, but luckily that doesn't happen too often. Binary units crop up like a bad habit..some people can't help it, but as long as manufacturers and venders actually label their products using the correct SI units, I wouldn't make too big a fuss about incorrect usage in conversation.
You're right; and (normally) I don't complain about things like occasional misuse of prefixes, spelling errors, typos and other accidents. Humans are human and I'm sure I've made more than my fair share of mistakes.
Someone deliberately attempting to convince people that these mistakes are correct is an entirely different matter. It goes well beyond "accidental misuse".
I probably should admit that the first time I came across binary prefixes I didn't like them either (I couldn't see the point of bothering and they looked a bit ugly). It probably took 2 weeks before I changed my mind and started using them (and several months before using them felt natural). Bad habits are hard to break.
- Brendan
Features
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/24/13 17:26 UTC
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Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/11/13 21:41 UTC
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Linked by Thom Holwerda on 04/29/13 21:06 UTC
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Linked by Thom Holwerda on 04/24/13 22:24 UTC
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Member since:
2011-01-28
Brendan,
Most everyone here should know that improper use of units is obviously ambiguous. The inconsistency is appalling when mixing units, but luckily that doesn't happen too often. Binary units crop up like a bad habit..some people can't help it, but as long as manufacturers and venders actually label their products using the correct SI units, I wouldn't make too big a fuss about incorrect usage in conversation.