Here's a marketing idea -- HD companies should understate their drive capacities by 8 percent. Then consumers will feel like they're getting added capacity for free.

It works when selling toothpaste.

This lawsuit and the McDonald's coffee thing make me sad.

WD - way to go!
 

I'm still waiting for my...

caviar.

I've had the champagne on ice for waaaay too long now.

Unrelated, but comparable to the gigabyte story:

A 2 x 4 x 8 piece of wood is actually 1 1/2 x 3 1/2 x 8, once delivered to the consumer. Even with this obvious knowledge, contractors and builders continue to have no problem referring to it as a 2 x 4.

Perhaps this new societal revelation of a gigabyte just needs time to sink in a bit before it is accepted as "standard."

For the same reason a quarter pound hamburger is less on the table...it's lost water in the preparation. The wood and meat both shrink from this and noone complains. This may explain the "*Pre-cooked weight" labels on the hamburgers though.