[MEncoder-users] Using SI units in mencoder

[asym]

At 19:06 2/8/2005, Trent Piepho wrote:
>On Tue, 8 Feb 2005, asym wrote:
> > Software won't change either, too much of it from too many different
> > authors for it to be corrected within our lifetimes.  And software
> > developers, like the one responding, have "staked a claim" that they are
> > unwilling to give up.  Years ago the IEEE recommended people call 1024
> > bytes a "kibibyte" and abbreviate it "KiB" but to this day nobody 
> does.  SI
>
>Probably because the use of kilobyte to mean 2^10 bytes was around for decades
>before IEEE came up with a new name.  The IEEE basically told programmers that
>they need to stop using the terms they've used since bytes were invented
>because hard drive manfacture's marketing departments want them.

The is just so much BS.  The use of kilobyte to mean 10^3 bytes was around 
long long long before software developers and self righteous technophiles 
hijacked the term, started crying "everyone else is wrong", and called it 
2^10.  Long before these mass storage companies even existed, let alone had 
marketing departments or called them "hard drives."


> > doesn't want people calling it "KB" because in SI, capital letters mean
> > something -- K means Kelvin, B means Bel, which is why the magnitude is
> > always in lowercase when dealing with SI.
>
>Not so, M = mega, m = milli, P = peta, p = pico.  For example, Mm are
>mega-meters.

Right ok, but the fact remains, the units to the right of the magnitude are 
already well defined in the SI -- the same place the prefixes have been 
borrowed from.

Hijacking the SI prefixes (kilo-, mega-, etc.) and then ignoring their true 
meaning is akin to creating a new car, saying it gets 100 mpg in the city, 
then redefining the size of the gallon (or the mile) to justify your statement.

Kilobyte means 1000 bytes, always has, always will.  Megabyte means 1000 
kilobytes, always has, always will.

Any scientist using SI will tell you this is the case; a kilometer is 1000 
meters not 1024 meters.  Any telecom engineer selling bandwidth will tell 
you this is the case; 1megabit/sec is 10^6 bits/sec, not (2^10)^2 bits/sec 
.  Any electronics engineer will tell you this is the case; a kilohertz is 
1000Hz not 1024Hz.  Ad infinitum.

Who says a kilobyte is 1024 bytes?  A very small minority of the 
professional industry using the SI prefixes -- and legions of developers 
(and users) with bad habits that don't know any better.  Saying this all 
comes down to a marketing ploy by harddrive manufacturers who are wrong vs. 
everyone else who is right is completely without merit, socially 
irresponsible, and plain wrong.

-asym