Messages in this thread | | | Date | Sun, 23 Dec 2001 08:24:29 -0800 | From | Stephen Satchell <> | Subject | Re: Changing KB, MB, and GB to KiB, MiB, and GiB in Configure.help. |
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At 10:43 AM 12/23/01 +0000, David Woodhouse wrote: >If you are more interested in the choices of the marketplace than in >technical correctness, one has to wonder what you're doing on this mailing >list.
Nice ad hominem attack, David. Attack the messenger. Good boy.
If you recall (or perhaps you have placed me in your kill file) I mentioned that the last place you want to make a sudden change in terminology is in the most public of places, the configuration help file. You also missed my call to use the new abbreviations FIRST within the kernel itself, in /proc, and in those userland utilities that report system resource usage. If the universe of Linux users accept it (translation: no flames erupt) then you can consider populating the configuration help files with them.
I also mentioned that we have a very, very large base of "legacy users" who do not understand what MiB would be (outside of the context of the movie _Men in Black_) and who would become very, very confused. In short, making the change would CONFUSE THE NON-TECHNICAL USERS more than they already are.
I'm not against technical correctness. I'm against witless, thoughtless, blind deployment of an idea without considering the consequences of that deployment.
Don't underestimate the power of "the market." Have you seen much about MINIX lately?
Stephen Satchell
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