I just thought this was slightly amusing, so I thought I'd post it. I just bought UFO: Aftermath, and noticed something odd. I you download it via browser, it lists the size of the file as 1GB, whereas if you add it to the downloader, it's 1000MB. Why would they use two different algorithms for those two options?

Maybe the downloader file is 24MB smaller? :p

A lot of people just simplify calculation of filesizes and the like by using 1000 MB = 1 GB and the like. THat is why you will almost never actually get a true 120 gig hard drive. You'll get 120 * 1000 MB, if you are lucky (and 120 * 1000 * 1000 * 1000 bytes if you get some manufacturers).
The argument for using the 1000 instead of 1024 approach is that it makes the percentages and the like easier. 1025 mb is 1.025 GB instead of whatever the hell it really is (probably not a pretty number).

1.025MB?

I know that, but that wasn't really the point. Whichever system they use, you'd expect them to use it exclusively. Why would the calculation of the size of the same file be different in the same list on the same website?
Apparently, Firefox uses a third method. Here's what I saw when the file had finished downloading.

Let's not forget HDD megabytes: 1024000 bytes

Just to be comprehensive, here's the Vista Explorer's idea of the filesize, along with the file's properties.

Oh come on, the game works, innit? What's all the hubbub about?

I don't know if it does, I haven't installed it yet ;-)
And read my OP. I'm not complaining about anything. If I thought it was something that really needed fixing, I'd have contacted support.

Weird. Hell, I try to stay away from 4+ gig files.

Heh, yeah. Oopsies :p. I knew something was off there. It was early, and I was getting ready to play Beyond Good & Evil :p
Was so busy making excuses for my shame that I forgot to respond.
Honestly, I doubt if GoG knows or cares that it is different. Dime to a dollar, they just use scripts and utilities to calculate and post the sizes. And chances are that the library used in the downloader uses a different system than whatever is running on the webserver which is apparently different from whatever Firefox uses.
Honestly, it isn't a big deal. It is going to be a few megabytes difference, and while I can see that being a problem if you are someone who downloads and then puts on flash drives, you then run into the issue of what system your flash drive uses :p

I've seen funnier file sizes than that. Running PHPbb on Mac OS X 10.5 server, on an old Mac Mini G4, I almost always get results like "168,879999999999995 KB". Don't ask me where the extra decimals are coming from, I only assume that the G4 is so awesome that it can calculate file sizes with a difference of 1/100.000.000.000.000 of a bit.

Real men pine for the days when 1gb = 1024mb.
Wimps use base 10.
binary4evar

I do like trinary, just to be different.