Comment 18 for bug 538165

Erick, you are not the only subscriber. There are a couple of people following this bug. For example all members (117 at the moment) of Ubuntu Desktop Bugs get notifications.

Point #1: Yes, this a real problem. Hard disks and DVD sizes do not confuse users any more, but CD will now.

Point #2: Yes, that the preferred solution. Base-2 -> IEC prefixes and base-10 -> SI prefixed. No SI prefixes for base-2.

Point #3: When an ISO is labeled as CD image, I would assume that it can be burned on a CD. Brasero will show xy MB remain, when I try to burn it. So I wouldn't be worried. IMO at least a notice should be added or the sizes should be displayed in both versions (base-10 and base-2) on the websites.

Point #4: We are at the beginning in converting all applications to follow the units policy. Someone has to start following the given standards (SI, IEC). Thunar needs to get fixed before the release. I hope that Ubuntu will have impact on the other distributions (primarily Debian) and that they will use this policy, too. If you prefer base-2 units, you can use the newly created base-2 PPA [1].

I doubt that we can educate the disc manufacturers.

[1] https://launchpad.net/~bdrung/+archive/base-2