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When 1 GB Is Really 0.9313 Gigabytes

An anonymous reader writes "When it comes to RAM, as every geek knows, 1 GB does not mean 1 billion bytes.. it means 2**30 (1,073,741,824) bytes. However, several decades ago "they" decided that GB, MB, and KB would be interpreted differently when it comes to disk drives; 1 GB means exactly 1 billion bytes. Ed Bott points out that Microsoft's marketers and Windows kernel developers aren't on the same page when it comes to these units: the marketers use the more generous decimal interpretation, while Windows measures and reports capacity using the binary (2**30) measure. Careful customers who bother to check what they've got have been known to get peeved by the discrepancy."

2 of 618 comments (clear)

  1. "they" can fuck off, the binary units are the only by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Flamebait

    correct ones to use.

  2. What. The. Fuck? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Flamebait

    What the hell is this? It's common knowledge for, it's the ABC of computer literacy.

    Are you going to post articles about "Hey, you can represent numbers and letters in binary code!!!1 How awesome is that?" next? Or how about "Newssite finds: You need to plug the power cord in to switch your computer on!"