This thread is for debating the merits of microbits instead of millibitcoins.  This discussion is for people who are already convinced that the current price is a barrier to further adoption.  If you do not accept this premise then there is no point posting in this thread.  Ok, so here are my arguments in favor of microcoins:

Millibitcoins is long and awkward.  The fact that it can be shortened with slang is not sufficient to overcome this.

The main appeal behind the name "millibitcoins" is that it uses a metric prefix.  If metric prefixes are so great, why isn't the Euro metric?  How come there is a 100€ bill instead of a h€ bill (1 hectoeuro)?  How come there is a 10c (10 cent) coin issued instead of a d€ (decieuro) coin?  The people designing the euro believed that metric prefixes didn't have any advantage over a more normal type of currency.  I agree with them.

So why am I proposing a coin that seems to use a metric prefix?  The difference is that "micro" has a meaning beyond the metric system.  It comes from a Greek word meaning "small", and this word has entered modern usage to mean very small.  People are very comfortable with the word "micro" as evidenced by the line of toys called "micro machines", the use of microscopes, slang like "micropenis" and so on.  People from all walks of live feel comfortable with the word "micro".  "Milli", on the other hand, is not widely used as a standalone concept.

Notice that I am suggesting microbits instead of microbitcoins.  Again, the purpose of this change is to make something easier to say.  You could argue that microbit is the word for one millionth of a bit, and thus it might seem like some sort of computer terminology.  However actual computer bits are not divisible and measuring data rates in microbits would be absurd.  So there is no conflict.

Hopefully by now I've convinced you that microbit is a superior name, but why set the value of a microbit at 100 satoshis?  (well besides pleasing the metric people).

The answer is that it is hard to get people to accept a change, and this might be our last chance to change it.  Right now it wouldn't be hard to switch to microbits.  We need to convince two people: a developer for Bitcoin-Qt and Mark Karpeles (MtGox).  If these two entities switch over to pricing things in a new unit everyone will switch over.  Now imagine trying to switch from millibitcoins to microbits sometime in the distant future.  Now we have to convince Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Paypal, Amazon, Walmart, etc... and all of the other companies that handle bitcoins.

Another reason is that the microbit is a good size.  Right now the world money supply is about 60 trillion dollars.  Someday this may all be in bitcoin.  If there are 18 million bitcoins (some get lost) that's 3.33 million dollars per bitcoin, which means that a satoshi will be worth $0.03 and a microbit would be worth $3.33 in today's money.  You would also be able to use two decimal places because there would be 100 satoshis to a microbit.  That would be appealing to people.

Ok that's great, but that may never happen.  What about now?  Well right now the price is something like $106 for one bitcoin.  That's written from the perspective of someone who thinks in bitcoin (someone who is selling).  We need to change it to the perspective of someone who is buying.  Instead imagine if the price were shown as 9434 microbits for a dollar.  As you can imagine, that would be very appealing to many people.  It also will help people wrap their price around the scarcity of bitcoins.  Right now you can tell people that the price is going up due to the scarcity of bitcoin, but they don't understand it.  Now imagine if the price goes from 9434 microbits for a dollar, down to 8355 microbits for a dollar, down to 6110 microbits to a dollar.  Look how obvious the scarcity is now.  This explains how ripple (which shows prices this way and has a very small unit) was able to get market cap that rivals bitcoin so quickly, despite the fact that bitcoin has four years and a million users whereas ripple is completely new and unproven.

So, thoughts?