New names for gigabytes

Turns out that the difference between base 10 and base 2 math is at the heart of much confusing in computing. Not so much for the computer scientists and geeks used to base 2 math, but more when it gets into the hands of the marketers who only understand (barely) base 10 math. For example, when you say a GigaByte of data, do you mean 1 000 000 000 B, (base 10 math) or do you mean 1 073 741 824 B (base 2 math)? Turns out hardware guys (marketers) mean the former and software guys (geeks) mean the later.

On of the upshots of this is a recent movement to change the names we call things so that base 2 and base 10 have their own unique names. Definitions of the SI units: The binary prefixes So a gigabyte GB would be 1 000 000 000 B (base 10) and we would have a new name gibibyte GiB which would be 1 073 741 824 B (base 2). It is about time.

now I can sleep