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| why is the US not Metric |
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| Ranayna:
What i find interesting in this debate is how the imperial units are handled in Germany. In many things computer related, the inch as a unit is still very common. Harddisk and screen sizes are the current examples, floppy disk sizes where a thing in the past. Then came the law some years ago, that you at first also had to include the size in centimeters, but could still primarily use inches. Then you had to priorizise centimeters, but still could include inches, and supposedly at some point inches where not to be used anymore... As far as i know everyone still uses inches for harddisk and screen sizes ;D Similar story with horsepower for cars. So even i a country that has been metric for who knows how long, the tradition of old units is very very hard to beat. |
| kosine:
You can't beat a good grunt in Anglo Saxon: inch, foot, yard, pint, ounce, pound, etc (yes, I know it's largely Roman grunts, but still quicker than the French alternative) |
| Simon:
In italy all hose pipes were in inches and threads no doubt BSP. When i bought my 43" screen i had to convert that to m to understand what I was actually buying. But I am sure that if you go to the factory that made my screen you will find all the drawings are in metric. |
| Simon:
I don't understand horsepower. Again something that like all the roman measurements had to actually be defined at some point as 735W. i see that cars are now measured in kW. |
| boffin:
--- Quote from: Ranayna on October 25, 2019, 04:10:06 pm ---What i find interesting in this debate is how the imperial units are handled in Germany. In many things computer related, the inch as a unit is still very common. Harddisk and screen sizes are the current examples, floppy disk sizes where a thing in the past. Then came the law some years ago, that you at first also had to include the size in centimeters, but could still primarily use inches. Then you had to priorizise centimeters, but still could include inches, and supposedly at some point inches where not to be used anymore... As far as i know everyone still uses inches for harddisk and screen sizes ;D Similar story with horsepower for cars. So even i a country that has been metric for who knows how long, the tradition of old units is very very hard to beat. --- End quote --- What's even more fun are screws. a 3½ hard disk uses #6/32 (US) screws, whereas a 3½" floppy drive uses M3 screws |
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