LinkBack URL
About LinkBacksIt's interesting, but not practical. The damage has been done and we're stuck with it like it is...
It's interesting, but not practical. The damage has been done and we're stuck with it like it is...
I think the article does help - if I didn't already know about it, I certainly would now, and I would try and make a note in future (although I often forget!). This article could persuade the community of Hexus to use the correct terms. In turn, other online communities might follow the same pattern, and many of these communities contain the IT/Network Mangers/Workers that teach others about computers. It may take time, but it is perfectly possible (and I'm not saying certain, merely possible) for something like this to filter down to the layman. But if you have no confidence, it'll never happen.
"Well, there was your Uncle Tiberius who died wrapped in cabbage leaves but we assumed that was a freak accident."
I think you're overestimating the technical ability of everyday users. Too much information confuses people.Originally Posted by mike_w
To be honest, the useful gain from changing this entire system is negligable. Would it be worth the effort? I agree that it is perfectly possible, but, to put it bluntly, can we be arsed? No real gain.
Well, not only would we all be more accurate, but there might be less questions saying "Why is my hard drive is smaller than it should be!?!?"
"Well, there was your Uncle Tiberius who died wrapped in cabbage leaves but we assumed that was a freak accident."
I'm not doubting it will be more accurate. It will be more accurate, but just because it's accurate doesn't mean it makes it easier.
Techies have only just recently managed to get megabytes and gigabytes into everyday language; how difficult is it going to be to tell people "actually, we've been telling you wrong all this time. You see, because it's a negligible percentage out, we're going to need you to change the word you use. Oh no, Gigabytes *do* still exist, but they're a... what? Can you still use Microsoft Word? Yes, of course you can, but... what? No, no it won't change the way you use your... no, you've still got lots of space free, but see, 'mega' means a million, but 'mibi' means 1024... sorry, 10485... hang on, where are you going?"
That's what I'm saying. I don't think we would gain from making it the new standard. We would lose out! We'd probably be better off switching the meanings of Gigabyte and Gibibyte.
Okay, perhaps the layman might never actually understand - but many of them don't understand bytes in the first place! There are various people that aren't hugely interested in the latest technology, or that read forums like these, but still have knowledge about these things i.e. what a byte, KB/KiB, etc is. I'd say it would be reasonable easy to explain it to them, and I think that would be enough people to know. In other words, all those that need to understand would understand, whereas the average end user probably wouln't need to know, so it doesn't really matter if (s)he doesn't understand.
There, I think I've explained myself... well, I know what I mean!
"Well, there was your Uncle Tiberius who died wrapped in cabbage leaves but we assumed that was a freak accident."
I'd always been confused about why we said giga and kilo.
I'm used to metric, kilometer, kilogram etc...
6014 3DMk 05
TBH University courses still teach the definitions as Kilo, Mega, and Giga, but they refer to the proper number as in Kilobyte = 1024bits etc.
While technically a bit of a faux-pas, the Kilo, Mega and Giga tags are just used as nametags more than anything..
Besides, kibi, mibi, and gibi just sounds crap, especially when you add "byte" or "bit" to the end - too many b's in one short word..
What I think would be better as a more acceptable solution to all people, was if the industry just used Kilo, Mega, and Giga to mean the Kibi, Mibi, and Gibi values, rather than trying to fluff up the sizes as a marketing exercise..
After all, that's why we settled on 1 Billion = 1,000,000,000 rather than the more technically accurate 1,000,000,000,000 - it was far easier to accept the inaccurate American version than go against the tide.
(\__/)
(='.'=)
(")_(")
Technically a faux pas is fairly inexcusable when you're being taught something like Computer Science. I'm sticking to my guns here, hoping that our usage of it will perpetuate people learning the correct way. If even 1% of our readers pick up on it, that's better than nothing given that if you see the correct way written down, especially abbreviated, you can still understand the meaning.
If it was a confusing thing to do, I'd possibly think twice. All HEXUS titles for which I'm Technical Editor will migrate to the correct method over time, and we'll link back to the article we're discussing from a glossary of terms you'll see on the site at some point.
MOLLY AND POPPY!
Rys, I think the only reason that it won't be a confusing thing to do is because the abbreviations for the "correct" versions look sufficiently similar to the "incorrect" versions that people will know what you're on about; but purely by mentally referring to the incorrect versions...
Rys:
Fair enough points, of course it's none of my business what you choose to do, but could you promise me one thing? Please don't criticise people on the board for using the more traditional terms, or nag them, because it could run the risk of sounding very patronising very quickly.
I wouldn't dream of it. I might now and again link to the article if people look to be confused, but otherwise I'll leave it to our copy to put the message across.
MOLLY AND POPPY!
kibibits and gigibits - not to be confused with kibbles and bits
lol, genius!
kibibits and gigibits - not to be confused with kibbles and bits
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
