Ubuntu Desktop Unit Consistency (LP: #369525)

[Mike Jones]

>
> Message: 3
> Date: Wed, 03 Jun 2009 23:47:11 +0800
> From: Chan Chung Hang Christopher <christopher.chan at bradbury.edu.hk>
> Subject: Re: Ubuntu Desktop Unit Consistency (LP: #369525)
> To: ubuntu-devel-discuss at lists.ubuntu.com
> Message-ID: <4A269AFF.9010108 at bradbury.edu.hk>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed
>
> Dmitrijs Ledkovs wrote:
> > Ok can we at least fix applications to use Ki Mi etc prefixes when
> > they are counting in base 2?
> >
> Heh. Time to set up the next target for you guys to meet.
>
> > This way at least we will be able to identify who is using what. And
> > please let's not touch command line utilities  for now, only the
> > "Average Jill's and Joe's" GUI apps.......
> >
>
> Don't you dare. Before you change age old conventions, you must make a
> lot of loud noise to the relevant people (other operating systems, YOUR
> USERS and hardware marketing ... whatever you want to call them) and
> then do it.
>
> Now that you have yelled till you are blue in the face about disk
> manufacturers using proper SI units and therefore we should although
> file and filesystem space are still being calculated in base2
> units...may I ask how you plan to report the sizes for flash drives? :-D



This discussion has gone on long enough that I'm no longer able to tell what
we are discussing.

Do we have agreement that the correct prefixs for units that are counted in
powers of two are kibi, mebi, gibi, tebi, and so on?
Do we have agreement that the correct prefixs for units that are counted in
powers of ten are kilo, mega, giga, tera, and so on?


There seem to be replies that indicate that this is not the case. I think
clarification would be useful one way or the other.

If everyone is agreed that powers of two are the prefixes with kibi, mebi,
and so on, and powers of ten are the metric prefixes, than what is being
argued? That we should change which units various values are reported in?

Can this be a configuration option? I know that I'm not an average user, but
I dont think its too far off to say that users with lots of experience will
perhaps prefer having ALL reletive sizes reported in terms of powers of two.
I know that its what I personally feel more comfortable. At the same time, I
know that other users, many of my friends included, may not prefer that, and
would rather have their sizes reported in powers of Ten.

Having this be a configuration option that can be implimented by the user,
will remove the problem of having to decide which to use, as the user now
has the choice.

If we don't have agreement on the prefixes, why not? Many many times its
been said that they are the standards. Metric is to be used for powers of
ten, and the new prefixes are to be used for powers of two. I don't believe
that I fully see how there is discussion of that. A standard is a standard.
We can choose to ignore it, but I personally believe that doing so is
unwise.

--Michael Jones
Junior Software Engineering Student
Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology
CTO of JAM Customs LLC
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