I have set my own computer to ISO 8601, no mistake, but sometimes I see
wrong times and dates in headers of e-mails I have sent; down this page are
also two 'original messages', the first is wrong and the second one is
correct.
Not always, but now and then AM/PM and mm-dd-YYYY pops up. I would never
leave this stuff on my computer willingly or out of lazyness; I want to
obliterate it. It would be the same as using ifp in a metric environment to
me. There may be something hidden deep below in Outlook Express which can
override one's own preferences and I think the English language has
something to do with it.
Maybe I can get rid of it when I format C: and then re-install everything.
Sooner or later I will have to do this anyway.
I also have an Amiga 1200; it defaulted to the non standard 'standard'
settings, but the first thing I did was change them to the Swedish ones,
which are the same as ISO 8601. My Windows 98 defaults to obsolete Dutch
settings, which are dd-mm-YYYY/ 24 hour clock; I changed the date to ISO
8601 by hand, as my W98 does not have it as an option.
Han
----- Original Message -----
From: "kilopascal" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Monday, April 16, 2001 9:33 PM
** For instance, where does this come from?
Subject: [USMA:12243] Re: Fwd: RE: pcAnywhere
----- Original Message -----
From: "M R" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "U.S. Metric Association" [EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Monday, 2001-04-16 12:00
** And this one is correct!
Subject: [USMA:12234] Fwd: RE: pcAnywhere
Lotus Notes has its own setting for Metric / US.
File -> Preferences -> User Preferences ->
International.
If we can convince the software/hardware companies to set the metric system
as default, then it will be a big victory for us.
Madan
<snip>
John wrote in USMA 12243:
They may not set the metric as a default for a reason. Americans might be
more apt to complain about unfamiliar metric units, date and time formats
then internationals would complain about US formats. I'm sure these
companies don't want their support lines flooded with calls from users
wanting to know how to set the date and time to "standard" format.
Maybe the best thing to do would be either to default to windows settings or
ask the preference during set-up. A few years back I set up a new computer
for a guy in the office. I set the windows date/time to 24 h and ISO-8601.
He never knew I set it that way, and I didn't tell him, but he F'ed up a lot
of settings trying to set it to am/pm and MM/dd/yy. So, experience has
shown me that just defaulting everyone's computer to International
preferences can cause a lot of problems.
Interesting note: E-mails I have received at work from outside the US
usually have the message header in English, with the US date and time
format. I think because of the standard use of English world-wide in
business, English settings are preferred. It might also be thought that if
one uses English, one must also use the US, assumed to be standard,
date/time format. Or, people who set the preference to English language get
the US date/time format by default and don't know enough about computers or
are to lazy to do some changes to the settings, so they are stuck with the
US format.
There would almost have to be some world-wide edict to make ISO-8601 and
metric settings the standard default for English.
John
Keiner ist hoffnungsloser versklavt als derjenige, der irrtümlich glaubt
frei zu sein.
There are none more hopelessly enslaved then those who falsely believe they
are free!
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832)
