On Mon, 29 Nov 2004 00:30:34 +0700, Thomas Fernandez wrote: > Sunday being the first day of the week is also what I grew up with. It > turned out that most countries use another way of counting, namely > starting with Monday. I have no religious association with any day of > the week, and since Monday is the first working day of the working > week, I think this makes sense.
It is hard for me to believe that most use another way of counting. Many European countries have *switched*, but that is not so much common outside of Europe (to the best of my knowledge). I have been a constant traveler for well over 30 years, thereby acquiring citizenship or residency in many countries in various parts of the world. Easily eight out of ten calendars that I have seen start with Sunday. That is how it is done in the Americas (North and South), Africa, and the Indian Sub-Continent. That is a large part of the world. China has its own unique tradition; but for civil purposes, the Gregorian calendar (presumably the traditional one with Sunday as the first day of the week) is used. > You may be right about Windows, I don't know. I am certainly uncertain > about your assumption about the vast majority of Western calandars. > Please enlighten me - a URL will do. Well, maybe I used the word Western in a confusing way. I was just trying to give the sort of picture that I mentioned above. Western Imperialism (Greek, Roman, German, French, British, and American) for the most part imposed a seven-day week that begins on Sunday. It is doubtful that recent European changes to the calendar have been adopted in other parts of the world - especially considering the tremendous influence (for better or worse) of the United States in world affairs. An interesting site you might like to look at in respect to software development and calendars is the following Microsoft page, which also gives some clues as to how the calendar might be changed in Windows: http://www.microsoft.com/globaldev/getWR/steps/wrg_clndr.mspx Though it is not directly stated but only implied, it seems that Microsoft still considers Sunday to be the first day of the week for most countries that use the Gregorian calendar. > Their intention is to create standards which will lead to easy > understanding across cultures. For example in the air transport > industry, everybody knows that "day 1" is Monday, and no additional > cultural explanation is necessary. No argument there. But it gets less clear when you go to other industries or various aspects of those industries. For example, considering the entertainment industry, what day(s) of the week does a TV schedule come out on in Germany? > AY> And, good or bad, it is still too soon for Ritlabs to be > AY> imposing that standard in a rigid fashion. > > I disagree, but then, this is what this thread is about. Yes, that is what this thread is about. And I respect your disagreement. > AY> Why should this be thrust on TB users like some sort of religious > AY> dogma? > > Only if you consider international standardisation a religious dogma. Thomas, I don't consider international standards to be a dogma. The dogmatism comes when those standards are imposed in such a way that you cannot customize according to local conventions or your personal preference. Standard or no standard, we should still have the right to set our preferences on matters as fundamental as a calendar (or, otherwise, see a calendar that we are accustomed to). That is what I objected to in the TB interface that launched this debate, and it appears that my concern is being resolved by Ritlabs (which I appreciate). > AY> Why not retain - or at least allow the retention of - the rich > AY> context of an historical and cultural legacy? > > Because in international communication, standards are useful. If you > are talking about social sciences, I agree with you. I am talking about TB. Otherwise this discussion would be OT and liable to attract a trout. :-) -- Avi Yashar Windows XP Pro SP2 and The Bat! Pro 3.0.2.8 ________________________________________________________ Current beta is 3.0.2.8 Rush | 'Using TBBETA' information: http://www.silverstones.com/thebat/TBUDLInfo.html IMPORTANT: To register as a Beta tester, use this link first - http://www.ritlabs.com/en/partners/testers/
