Re: Configure.help editorial policy

Kai Henningsen
2001-12-27T13:47:54Z

riel@conectiva.com.br (Rik van Riel) wrote on 21.12.01 in <Pine.LNX.4.33L.0112211913360.28489-100000@duckman.distro.conectiva>:

> On Fri, 21 Dec 2001, Eric S. Raymond wrote:
>
> > What, and *encourage* non-uniform terminology? No, I won't do that.
> > Better to have a single standard set of abbreviations, no matter how
> > ugly, than this.
>
> Last I checked the purpose of language was _communication_.
>
> Better use words people understand.

People in general *don't* understand the current so-called "established
practice", because not only is it inconsistent with all of the rest of the
world, it's also inconsistent with itself.

A few specialists such as you or me understand those terms in those few
areas we are familiar with.

> Also, the kB vs KiB mess is so ambiguous and complex that

What is ambiguous or complex about it?

> As a last point, we shouldn't forget about the inconsistent
> way in which the marketing departments of hardware vendors
> apply these units to their products.

Do you know of *any* case where KiB and friends have been applied
inconsistently? You may not be arguing the side you seem to want to be
arguing here ...

> In many cases binary
> and decimal units are mixed, leading to something which is
> impossible to "get right". Disk space would be one example
> of this, but I'm sure there are more.

I have no idea why you think it is impossible to get right. It is fairly
easy to get right. Of course, that means using different numbers, but then
I've been saying for more than a decade that those numbers are a lie.

MfG Kai