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Date: Fri, 21 Dec 2001 19:17:45 -0200 (BRST)
From: Rik van Riel <riel@conectiva.com.br>
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To: "Eric S. Raymond" <esr@thyrsus.com>
Cc: David Garfield <garfield@irving.iisd.sra.com>,
        Linux Kernel List <linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org>
Subject: Re: Configure.help editorial policy
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On Fri, 21 Dec 2001, Eric S. Raymond wrote:

> What, and *encourage* non-uniform terminology?  No, I won't do that.
> Better to have a single standard set of abbreviations, no matter how
> ugly, than this.

Last I checked the purpose of language was _communication_.

Better use words people understand.

Also, the kB vs KiB mess is so ambiguous and complex that
it virtually guarantees that the _writers_ of documentation
will get it wrong occasionally and only confuse the readers
more.

As a last point, we shouldn't forget about the inconsistent
way in which the marketing departments of hardware vendors
apply these units to their products. In many cases binary
and decimal units are mixed, leading to something which is
impossible to "get right".  Disk space would be one example
of this, but I'm sure there are more.

regards,

Rik
-- 
DMCA, SSSCA, W3C?  Who cares?  http://thefreeworld.net/

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