Steve Mccrystal wrote in a message to Jack Stein:

 SM>> This whole thing sorta reminds me of the switch from BPS to
 SM>> Symbols.  The entire world could do without it!

 JS> I dunno what BPS is, but I think I can safely agree with you:-)

 SM> Bits Per Second, the (once) proper terminology that replaced
 SM> BAUD (or should have) when protocols were developed by which
 SM> the bit rate exceeded the baudrate. 

Smacking forehead, OH, THAT BPS:-)  Now I see, yeah, good analagy I reckon. 
It must have been the Symbols that threw me off.  Characters per second vs
baud, is that what you mean?

 SM> For the purists, I realize that this is not completely
 SM> correct, but it makes the point, I think.

 SM> When we had BPS, many modem manufacturers, and almost all
 SM> modem resellers, were the ones confused, intentionally IMHO,
 SM> due to either laziness or ignorance. 

Modem manufacturers have done a bang up job of confusing most everyone.  Even
hard core computer folks turn belly up when reading a modem manual...

                                              Jack 
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