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RE: Mb means Megabyte (was RE: Licence or license?)
Subject:RE: Mb means Megabyte (was RE: Licence or license?) From:"Martin Polley" <Martinp -at- Surf-com -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Sun, 1 Dec 2002 10:30:31 +0200
>I've also never once in my life before today seen "mebibyte". Sounds a
bit made up to me.
It IS made up--by the International Electrotechnical
Commission--specifically to clear up the confusion about what "mega"
means. (It has not made it into general usage, yet, though.)
Martin Polley
Technical Communicator http://www.surf-com.com/
martinp -at- surf-com -dot- com
Tel: (+972) (4) 9095-732
Mobile: (053) 864-280
ICQ 15617901
Hlade's Law: If you have a difficult task, give it to a lazy person.
They will find an easier way to do it.
-----Original Message-----
From: Chris Gooch [mailto:chris -dot- gooch -at- lightworkdesign -dot- com]
Sent: Friday, November 29, 2002 1:10 PM
To: TECHWR-L
Subject: Mb means Megabyte (was RE: Licence or license?)
Martin Polley wrote:
+++++
MB=megabyte (1,000,000 bytes)
Mb=megabit (1,000,000 bits)
MiB=mebibyte (2 to the power 20, or 1,048,576 bytes)
Similarly:
KiB=kibibyte (2 to the power 10, or 1,024 bytes)
+++
'Fraid I just can't let this one pass. This is what it says in the
concise
OED:
---
megabit: n. Computing. A unit of data size or network speed, equal to
one million or (strictly) 1,048,576 bits (per second).
megabyte (abbrev.: Mb or MB). n. Computing. A unit of information equal
to one million or (strictly) 1,048,576 bytes.
---
Same for Kb (kilobytes) and kilobit (no abbrev., is a measure of network
speed not memory).
I've been into computers since I got a ZX81 at the age of 11 (22 years
ago now) and I've _never_ interpreted Kb as Kilobit --- it _always_
means Kilobyte, and is generally pronounced as just "K". Similarly Mb
means megabytes, and is generally pronounced "Meg". I've also never once
in my life before today seen "mebibyte". Sounds a bit made up to me.
Kilobit and megabit are arcane forms only used by network people (and
scurrilous modem manufacturers trying to confuse the public).
As for licence v. license --- look at your driving licence. This will
tell you what country you are from and also how to spell "licence". :-)
Christopher Gooch, Technical Author
LightWork Design, Sheffield, UK.
www.lightworkdesign.com
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