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Data Storage

Submission + - Apple kicks HDD marketing debate into high gear 2

quacking duck writes: With the release of Mac OS X 10.6 "Snow Leopard," Apple has updated a support document describing how their new operating system reports capacities of hard drives and other media. It has sided with hard drive makers who for years have advertised capacities as "1 GB = 1,000,000,000 bytes" instead of the traditional computer science definition, and in so doing has kicked the debate between marketing and computer science into high gear.

Binary prefixes for binary units (e.g. GiB for "gibibyte") have been promoted by the International Electrotechnical Commission and endorsed by IEEE and other standards organizations, but to date there's been limited acceptance (though manufacturers have wholeheartedly accepted the "new" definitions for GB and TB). Is Apple's move the first major step in forcing computer science to adopt the more awkward binary prefixes, breaking decades of accepted (if technically inaccurate) usage of SI prefixes?

Comment Re:Like a driver's license (Score 1) 327

Yes, having tests and driver's licenses has put an end to excessive speeding, cutting people off, tailgating, last minute lane changes, and other dangerous driving behavior because people are now educated in the dangers of doing so.

Wait... no. People still do stupid shit. Not because they don't know better, but because they don't give a shit.

An internet license or whatever would be the same. People already know what to do or not do. They are told all the time. They are told every fucking day at work. They are told by friends or relatives who who have a brain. A small percentage may have these troubles because no one has taken the time to educate them, but for the vast majority that I have had to deal with it's not that people don't know better, it's that they're lazy and don't fucking care.

Comment Re:Thanks for the laugh! (Score 1) 926

I've never had issues with Firefox in Windows, when I used it. I typically use Chrome these days, though. Firefox is a bit of a dog in Linux, IMO.

The only time I ever open IE is to VPN into work, because we have some weird system that only lets me connect through an ActiveX control.

So what if IE isn't compliant? Use another browser...

Comment Re:You know what? (Score 1) 169

"total story output will in the end average the same amount but higher quality. This "err on the side of speed over truth" attitude is exactly what's wrong with the media today, and any thinking person should do everything in their power to discourage it. If you're going to miss your deadline because it takes too long to get the truth, then the deadline is wrong."

Here, here, author, author!!

Comment Re:Ugh (Score 1) 290

Why can't we hold Apple to the same standard as M$? Everyone expects full legacy support for their 15 year-old 8-bit code to work in Vista or Win7 64-bit and yell and scream if they can't do it with having to do a rewrite. Frankly, I'd prefer it is M$ did drop the support for the legacy garbage that my company keeps around and force them to develop some decent functioning apps. Just had to point out the double standard though.

Comment Re:Monitors (Score 2, Informative) 460

Probably gonna get modded troll for this, but I still haven't seen an LCD I can stand. Maybe I'm just picky about motion blur, but even the 2ms panels I see look like they've been smeared with KY as soon as something moves. Maybe I'm just spoiled by my trinitrons (Hello 1600x1200@120hz), but I don't notice any of this flicker you guys are always on about, are you sure you're not just running the screens at 60hz?

Comment Re:Rain isn't causing those accidents (Score 1) 137

I AM a New Zealand driver you insensitive clod! But I do agree with you. I've grown up here, and indicators are optional, people follow about 4 nanometres from your bumper, etc. The roads are truely terrible. The camber is all wrong for most corners, and covered in potholes. At least in the South Island.

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