Re: glib uses wrong prefix for base-2 units

[Mark Mielke <mark mark mielke cc>]

Benjamin Drung wrote:

Am Mittwoch, den 03.06.2009, 23:53 +0100 schrieb Rui Tiago Cação Matos:
  

2009/6/3 Benjamin Drung <benjamin drung gmail com>:
    

g_format_size_for_display uses the wrong prefixes for units that are
counted in power of two.
      

You may want to check the colour of the previous bike shed here
http://mail.gnome.org/archives/gtk-devel-list/2007-December/msg00237.html
    

I do not want to discuss if we should use base 10 or base 2. I only want
to discuss to use the correct label for base 2. glib should should label
2^20 with MiB instead of MB (like Linux, GNU Core Utilities, GParted,
GNOME Network, Pidgin, Deluge already do)!
  

I don't think "correct" is the right word here. You want glib to adopt a modern standard that attempts to resolve a common ambiguity. Is it the correct approach? Correct approach implies that there is an incorrect approach. These terms have evolved over decades, and using the older ambiguous term vs the new defined-to-be-unambiguous term are both valid. One is not "less confusing" than the other until presenting the average person could identify the units a majority of the time.

I highly doubt the average person would correctly and confidently tell me what the difference between K and Ki is. I'm a techie, and it throws *me* for a loop. "Correct"? Not at all. It's just one group of people trying to resolve an ambiguity by pushing an idea on everybody else. Has it been embraced? Not yet.

Cheers,
mark

-- 
Mark Mielke <mark mielke cc>