Perhaps my original subject line was a bit misleading in that it
mentioned Microsoft. While the use of "micron" was spotted on a
Microsoft product, the origin was likely material from an American
astronomer. The American Astronomical Society is very much cgs oriented
-- in contrast to the International Astronomical Union, which is fairly
close to using only SI units exclusively.
My view was that the newness of this product and its release as a beta
version, in which user comments receive more attention, made this a good
opportunity for me to assail the use of "micron".
At no point in the program did I spot the use of non-metric units but
only this one non-SI metric unit.
Jim
Pat Naughtin wrote:
Dear Martin, Jim and All,
Often a small seemingly simple decision that can have quite remarkable
worldwide results. Some time ago, I realised that Microsoft's apparently
simple decision about the default margins in the Microsoft Word program
was having quite amazing effects on the acceptance of the metric system
in the USA and in the rest of the world.
You might be interested in an upgraded short piece (2 pages) that I
wrote on this theme. It is called '/Page borders — inches or
millimetres/' and you can find it
at: http://www.metricationmatters.com/docs/PageBordersInchesORmillimetres.pdf
Cheers,
Pat Naughtin
PO Box 305 Belmont 3216,
Geelong, Australia
Phone: 61 3 5241 2008
Metric system consultant, writer, and speaker, Pat Naughtin, has helped
thousands of people and hundreds of companies upgrade to the modern
metric system smoothly, quickly, and so economically that they now save
thousands each year when buying, processing, or selling for their
businesses. Pat provides services and resources for many different
trades, crafts, and professions for commercial, industrial and
government metrication leaders in Asia, Europe, and in the USA. Pat's
clients include the Australian Government, Google, NASA, NIST, and the
metric associations of Canada, the UK, and the USA.
See http://www.metricationmatters.com/ for more metrication information,
contact Pat at [EMAIL PROTECTED]
<mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> or to get the free
'/Metrication matters/' newsletter go to:
http://www.metricationmatters.com/newsletter/ to subscribe.
--
James R. Frysinger
632 Stony Point Mountain Road
Doyle, TN 38559-3030
(H) 931.657.3107
(C) 931.212.0267
