Skip to content
  • Categories
  • Recent
  • Tags
  • Popular
  • World
  • Users
  • Groups
Skins
  • Light
  • Brite
  • Cerulean
  • Cosmo
  • Flatly
  • Journal
  • Litera
  • Lumen
  • Lux
  • Materia
  • Minty
  • Morph
  • Pulse
  • Sandstone
  • Simplex
  • Sketchy
  • Spacelab
  • United
  • Yeti
  • Zephyr
  • Dark
  • Cyborg
  • Darkly
  • Quartz
  • Slate
  • Solar
  • Superhero
  • Vapor

  • Default (Cyborg)
  • No Skin
Collapse
Brand Logo

CIRCLE WITH A DOT

  1. Home
  2. Uncategorized
  3. People cannot be trusted to use "megabyte" as a word.

People cannot be trusted to use "megabyte" as a word.

Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved Uncategorized
27 Posts 13 Posters 0 Views
  • Oldest to Newest
  • Newest to Oldest
  • Most Votes
Reply
  • Reply as topic
Log in to reply
This topic has been deleted. Only users with topic management privileges can see it.
  • xgranade@wandering.shopX xgranade@wandering.shop

    People cannot be trusted to use "megabyte" as a word. Too many people use it to refer to 1024 and not to the correct SI meaning of "mega."

    This can be solved by introducing "kidi," "medi," "gidi," and so forth meaning "kilo (decimal)," "mega (decimal)" and so forth. These new prefixes are completely synonymous with kilo, mega, giga, and so forth, but have the advantage that sloppy developers from the 80s haven't misused them yet.

    W This user is from outside of this forum
    W This user is from outside of this forum
    whbboyd@infosec.exchange
    wrote last edited by
    #7

    @xgranade Honestly the biggest problem with "kibi" et. al. is that they sound ridiculous, so as long as the decimalized prefixes are at least as ridiculous, I'm down.

    1 Reply Last reply
    0
    • xgranade@wandering.shopX xgranade@wandering.shop

      Anyway, @whitequark has the right of it. Use SI unit prefixes to mean SI unit multipliers, period. "kilo-" means "1000," period. "kibi" means "1024," period.

      ✧✦Catherine✦✧ (@whitequark@treehouse.systems)

      the SI people are right and everybody doing it otherwise is wrong; you should never use the "K", "M", etc unit prefixes to mean factor of 1024. sure, with small enough sizes you can usually ignore it. but scale it up and you quickly run into trouble

      favicon

      Treehouse Mastodon (social.treehouse.systems)

      yosh@toot.yosh.isY This user is from outside of this forum
      yosh@toot.yosh.isY This user is from outside of this forum
      yosh@toot.yosh.is
      wrote last edited by
      #8

      @xgranade @whitequark

      Wait is that an actual standardized prefix? Is it supposed to be a kibi…byte? What's the next step up called?

      whitequark@social.treehouse.systemsW xgranade@wandering.shopX 2 Replies Last reply
      0
      • yosh@toot.yosh.isY yosh@toot.yosh.is

        @xgranade @whitequark

        Wait is that an actual standardized prefix? Is it supposed to be a kibi…byte? What's the next step up called?

        whitequark@social.treehouse.systemsW This user is from outside of this forum
        whitequark@social.treehouse.systemsW This user is from outside of this forum
        whitequark@social.treehouse.systems
        wrote last edited by
        #9

        @yosh @xgranade mebi

        1 Reply Last reply
        0
        • yosh@toot.yosh.isY yosh@toot.yosh.is

          @xgranade @whitequark

          Wait is that an actual standardized prefix? Is it supposed to be a kibi…byte? What's the next step up called?

          xgranade@wandering.shopX This user is from outside of this forum
          xgranade@wandering.shopX This user is from outside of this forum
          xgranade@wandering.shop
          wrote last edited by
          #10

          @yosh @whitequark Yep! The ISO and IEC jointly standardized 2^10 prefixes kibi (ki-), mebi (Mi-), gibi (Gi-), and so forth.

          xgranade@wandering.shopX 1 Reply Last reply
          0
          • xgranade@wandering.shopX xgranade@wandering.shop

            @yosh @whitequark Yep! The ISO and IEC jointly standardized 2^10 prefixes kibi (ki-), mebi (Mi-), gibi (Gi-), and so forth.

            xgranade@wandering.shopX This user is from outside of this forum
            xgranade@wandering.shopX This user is from outside of this forum
            xgranade@wandering.shop
            wrote last edited by
            #11

            @yosh @whitequark Basically, the existing SI prefixes should only ever be used for powers of 1000, never for 1024. The new(ish) IEC prefixes should be used for powers of 1024 instead.

            yosh@toot.yosh.isY 1 Reply Last reply
            0
            • clarfonthey@toot.catC clarfonthey@toot.cat

              @xgranade the appreviations would also presumably be KeB, MeB, and GeB, which are even more fun to pronounce

              nivex@tenforward.socialN This user is from outside of this forum
              nivex@tenforward.socialN This user is from outside of this forum
              nivex@tenforward.social
              wrote last edited by
              #12

              @clarfonthey @xgranade and eV is short for electronvolt, so I see MeB and think "what is a mega electronbyte?"

              xgranade@wandering.shopX 1 Reply Last reply
              0
              • nivex@tenforward.socialN nivex@tenforward.social

                @clarfonthey @xgranade and eV is short for electronvolt, so I see MeB and think "what is a mega electronbyte?"

                xgranade@wandering.shopX This user is from outside of this forum
                xgranade@wandering.shopX This user is from outside of this forum
                xgranade@wandering.shop
                wrote last edited by
                #13

                @nivex @clarfonthey MeeV

                clarfonthey@toot.catC 1 Reply Last reply
                0
                • xgranade@wandering.shopX xgranade@wandering.shop

                  @nivex @clarfonthey MeeV

                  clarfonthey@toot.catC This user is from outside of this forum
                  clarfonthey@toot.catC This user is from outside of this forum
                  clarfonthey@toot.cat
                  wrote last edited by
                  #14

                  @xgranade @nivex electronbyte is redundant, so, it's okay

                  xgranade@wandering.shopX 1 Reply Last reply
                  0
                  • clarfonthey@toot.catC clarfonthey@toot.cat

                    @xgranade @nivex electronbyte is redundant, so, it's okay

                    xgranade@wandering.shopX This user is from outside of this forum
                    xgranade@wandering.shopX This user is from outside of this forum
                    xgranade@wandering.shop
                    wrote last edited by
                    #15

                    @clarfonthey @nivex "mebinits per electron-volt" is a valid (if implausible) derived unit.

                    1 Reply Last reply
                    0
                    • xgranade@wandering.shopX xgranade@wandering.shop

                      People cannot be trusted to use "megabyte" as a word. Too many people use it to refer to 1024 and not to the correct SI meaning of "mega."

                      This can be solved by introducing "kidi," "medi," "gidi," and so forth meaning "kilo (decimal)," "mega (decimal)" and so forth. These new prefixes are completely synonymous with kilo, mega, giga, and so forth, but have the advantage that sloppy developers from the 80s haven't misused them yet.

                      nelaquetan@loud.computerN This user is from outside of this forum
                      nelaquetan@loud.computerN This user is from outside of this forum
                      nelaquetan@loud.computer
                      wrote last edited by
                      #16

                      @xgranade skibidibyte

                      1 Reply Last reply
                      0
                      • virtulis@loud.computerV virtulis@loud.computer

                        @xgranade we should also introduce kikibytes, memebytes and gigibytes for "i have no idea, it says MB, so must be somewhere in that order" bytes

                        nelaquetan@loud.computerN This user is from outside of this forum
                        nelaquetan@loud.computerN This user is from outside of this forum
                        nelaquetan@loud.computer
                        wrote last edited by
                        #17

                        @virtulis @xgranade kikibytes and boubabytes

                        kandi3kan3@infosec.exchangeK 1 Reply Last reply
                        0
                        • xgranade@wandering.shopX xgranade@wandering.shop

                          @yosh @whitequark Basically, the existing SI prefixes should only ever be used for powers of 1000, never for 1024. The new(ish) IEC prefixes should be used for powers of 1024 instead.

                          yosh@toot.yosh.isY This user is from outside of this forum
                          yosh@toot.yosh.isY This user is from outside of this forum
                          yosh@toot.yosh.is
                          wrote last edited by
                          #18

                          @xgranade @whitequark

                          This knowledge is going to make me so annoying lmao. thank you haha ^^

                          xgranade@wandering.shopX 1 Reply Last reply
                          0
                          • xgranade@wandering.shopX xgranade@wandering.shop

                            Anyway, @whitequark has the right of it. Use SI unit prefixes to mean SI unit multipliers, period. "kilo-" means "1000," period. "kibi" means "1024," period.

                            ✧✦Catherine✦✧ (@whitequark@treehouse.systems)

                            the SI people are right and everybody doing it otherwise is wrong; you should never use the "K", "M", etc unit prefixes to mean factor of 1024. sure, with small enough sizes you can usually ignore it. but scale it up and you quickly run into trouble

                            favicon

                            Treehouse Mastodon (social.treehouse.systems)

                            xgranade@wandering.shopX This user is from outside of this forum
                            xgranade@wandering.shopX This user is from outside of this forum
                            xgranade@wandering.shop
                            wrote last edited by
                            #19

                            Maybe I should state this as a serious proposal, taking @clarfonthey's suggestion for an alternate infix.

                            ---

                            The SI unit prefixes kilo-, mega-, giga-, and so forth refer exclusively to powers of 1,000 = 10³, while the ISO/IEC binary unit prefixes kibi-, mebi-, gibi-, and so forth refer exclusively to powers of 1,024 = 2¹⁰. In cases where historical confusions exist between SI and ISO/IEC prefixes, "kide," "mede-," "gide-" and so forth may be used as synonyms to emphasize SI decimal prefixes.

                            trochee@dair-community.socialT xgranade@wandering.shopX 2 Replies Last reply
                            0
                            • yosh@toot.yosh.isY yosh@toot.yosh.is

                              @xgranade @whitequark

                              This knowledge is going to make me so annoying lmao. thank you haha ^^

                              xgranade@wandering.shopX This user is from outside of this forum
                              xgranade@wandering.shopX This user is from outside of this forum
                              xgranade@wandering.shop
                              wrote last edited by
                              #20

                              @yosh @whitequark Oh, it is a truly wonderful thing to be annoying about. It's pedantry, but it matters more and more all the time.

                              1 Reply Last reply
                              0
                              • xgranade@wandering.shopX xgranade@wandering.shop

                                Maybe I should state this as a serious proposal, taking @clarfonthey's suggestion for an alternate infix.

                                ---

                                The SI unit prefixes kilo-, mega-, giga-, and so forth refer exclusively to powers of 1,000 = 10³, while the ISO/IEC binary unit prefixes kibi-, mebi-, gibi-, and so forth refer exclusively to powers of 1,024 = 2¹⁰. In cases where historical confusions exist between SI and ISO/IEC prefixes, "kide," "mede-," "gide-" and so forth may be used as synonyms to emphasize SI decimal prefixes.

                                trochee@dair-community.socialT This user is from outside of this forum
                                trochee@dair-community.socialT This user is from outside of this forum
                                trochee@dair-community.social
                                wrote last edited by
                                #21

                                @xgranade @clarfonthey

                                SI Decimal measures of length thus always recognize the goddess demeter

                                1 Reply Last reply
                                0
                                • xgranade@wandering.shopX xgranade@wandering.shop

                                  Maybe I should state this as a serious proposal, taking @clarfonthey's suggestion for an alternate infix.

                                  ---

                                  The SI unit prefixes kilo-, mega-, giga-, and so forth refer exclusively to powers of 1,000 = 10³, while the ISO/IEC binary unit prefixes kibi-, mebi-, gibi-, and so forth refer exclusively to powers of 1,024 = 2¹⁰. In cases where historical confusions exist between SI and ISO/IEC prefixes, "kide," "mede-," "gide-" and so forth may be used as synonyms to emphasize SI decimal prefixes.

                                  xgranade@wandering.shopX This user is from outside of this forum
                                  xgranade@wandering.shopX This user is from outside of this forum
                                  xgranade@wandering.shop
                                  wrote last edited by
                                  #22

                                  In cases where no such confusion exists, SI unit prefixes must always be preferred to synonyms that emphasize decimal bases. This nomenclature is not intended, and should not be used, to replace or supplant any SI standards. Synonyms for SI decimal unit prefixes must only be used when historical confusions exist due to improper use of SI nomenclature.

                                  trochee@dair-community.socialT 1 Reply Last reply
                                  0
                                  • xgranade@wandering.shopX xgranade@wandering.shop

                                    In cases where no such confusion exists, SI unit prefixes must always be preferred to synonyms that emphasize decimal bases. This nomenclature is not intended, and should not be used, to replace or supplant any SI standards. Synonyms for SI decimal unit prefixes must only be used when historical confusions exist due to improper use of SI nomenclature.

                                    trochee@dair-community.socialT This user is from outside of this forum
                                    trochee@dair-community.socialT This user is from outside of this forum
                                    trochee@dair-community.social
                                    wrote last edited by
                                    #23

                                    @xgranade

                                    As in, hard drive manufacturer promotional material should advertise storage volume in gidebytes and tedebytes for truth in advertising

                                    I like this proposal

                                    xgranade@wandering.shopX 1 Reply Last reply
                                    0
                                    • trochee@dair-community.socialT trochee@dair-community.social

                                      @xgranade

                                      As in, hard drive manufacturer promotional material should advertise storage volume in gidebytes and tedebytes for truth in advertising

                                      I like this proposal

                                      xgranade@wandering.shopX This user is from outside of this forum
                                      xgranade@wandering.shopX This user is from outside of this forum
                                      xgranade@wandering.shop
                                      wrote last edited by
                                      #24

                                      @trochee Like, in the ideal world, the binary prefixes would be used widely enough that only historical documents and hard drive packaging still uses the decimal prefixes, but as long as people throw around "mega" to mean 2^20...

                                      1 Reply Last reply
                                      0
                                      • nelaquetan@loud.computerN nelaquetan@loud.computer

                                        @virtulis @xgranade kikibytes and boubabytes

                                        kandi3kan3@infosec.exchangeK This user is from outside of this forum
                                        kandi3kan3@infosec.exchangeK This user is from outside of this forum
                                        kandi3kan3@infosec.exchange
                                        wrote last edited by
                                        #25

                                        @nelaquetan @virtulis @xgranade Kikibytes (kB) have more 1s than 0s; boubabytes (bB) have more 0s than 1s.

                                        To avoid confusion surrounding bytes with equal counts of ones and zeros, the standard byte is defined to be a nonet, rather than the legacy octet.

                                        1 Reply Last reply
                                        0
                                        • xgranade@wandering.shopX xgranade@wandering.shop

                                          People cannot be trusted to use "megabyte" as a word. Too many people use it to refer to 1024 and not to the correct SI meaning of "mega."

                                          This can be solved by introducing "kidi," "medi," "gidi," and so forth meaning "kilo (decimal)," "mega (decimal)" and so forth. These new prefixes are completely synonymous with kilo, mega, giga, and so forth, but have the advantage that sloppy developers from the 80s haven't misused them yet.

                                          bnlandor@mastodon.socialB This user is from outside of this forum
                                          bnlandor@mastodon.socialB This user is from outside of this forum
                                          bnlandor@mastodon.social
                                          wrote last edited by
                                          #26

                                          @xgranade TIL "mebibyte" is a thing 🙄

                                          1 Reply Last reply
                                          0
                                          Reply
                                          • Reply as topic
                                          Log in to reply
                                          • Oldest to Newest
                                          • Newest to Oldest
                                          • Most Votes


                                          • Login

                                          • Login or register to search.
                                          • First post
                                            Last post
                                          0
                                          • Categories
                                          • Recent
                                          • Tags
                                          • Popular
                                          • World
                                          • Users
                                          • Groups