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Ubuntu Will Switch To Base-10 File Size Units In Future Release

CyberDragon777 writes "Ubuntu's future 10.10 operating system is going to make a small, but contentious change to how file sizes are represented. Like most other operating systems using binary prefixes, Ubuntu currently represents 1 kB (kilobyte) as 1024 bytes (base-2). But starting with 10.10, a switch to SI prefixes (base-10) will denote 1 kB as 1000 bytes, 1 MB as 1000 kB, 1 GB as 1000 MB, and so on."

1 of 984 comments (clear)

  1. Really annoying by Ma�djeurtam · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I work mostly on OS X and this so-called feature annoys me to no end. I do not know the size of my files anymore, I have to go to the terminal just to know the size of a file (bash hasn't been polluted by this feature).

    I've been using computers for 20+ years and I do _not_ want to change how I think file sizes, especially since I feel that base 10 is the wrong way to count. What's next? Imperial units for us Europeans?

    The most annoying? That nobody has hacked Snow Leopard to restore real units.

    --
    Instant Karma's gonna get you, Gonna knock you right on the head (John Lennon, 1970)