Megabytes (MB) or Mebibytes (MiB)?

Posted by CmdrTaco on Sunday December 23, 2001 @05:21AM from the something-to-think-about dept.

An anonymous reader says: "KernelTrap has an interesting story about megabytes versus mebibytes. Though the article refers to Linux, the topic is applicable to all computers. Will there be a time when all computer users will talk about adding mibibytes of RAM, rather than a megabytes? From the article: '[the kernel patch] changes references from the familiar MB (megabyte) and GB (gigabyte) to the NIST standard MiB (mebibyte) and GiB (gibibyte). According to these standards, technically a megabyte (MB) is a power of ten, while a mebibyte (MiB) is a power of two, appropriate for binary machines. A megabyte is then 1,000,000 bytes. A mebibyte is the actual 1,048,576 bytes that most intend.'"

2 of 437 comments (clear)

Min score:

Reason:

Sort:

Oh god by Anonymous Coward · 2001-12-23 05:26 · Score: -1, Redundant

"Mebibytes." Powers of 10 vs. powers of 2.

You have to be fucking joking.
Re:on weirdness [Re: Its a lousy goddamn word] by Anonymous Coward · 2001-12-23 08:21 · Score: -1, Redundant

It doesn't sound wierd; it sounds STUPID/GAY/LAME.