Dear Developers,
If someone is making a time zone option for this Open BeOS project
I would like to suggest to make just a very simple setup.
Use for the time always the GMT time and give how much time must be add
or subs tract for your own time zone.
Everybody knows this for his own time zone or can easily find this information.
One other option can be on which day the summertime starts and ends and if the time must be adjusted accordingly.
I MHO there is no need for a long list with all kind of places and there time zones.
I think this is smaller simpler and more elegant then the windows way with this long
list to choose from.
Haiku already uses the utterly standard UNIX timezones system (I think its written by a US govt. department, opensource), and this handles all timezone data, the dates/times of daylight savings time, etc.
It already uses UTC as its standardised time, which is fairly sensible, unlike Windows and indeed R5 using US Eastern time by default…
MYOB wrote:
Haiku already uses the utterly standard UNIX timezones system (I think its written by a US govt. department, opensource), and this handles all timezone data, the dates/times of daylight savings time, etc.It already uses UTC as its standardised time, which is fairly sensible, unlike Windows and indeed R5 using US Eastern time by default…
Well that is a pity, I really think it is a clumsy way
too achieve a limited goal. No matter how many
companies use this.
edmundf wrote:
MYOB wrote:Haiku already uses the utterly standard UNIX timezones system (I think its written by a US govt. department, opensource), and this handles all timezone data, the dates/times of daylight savings time, etc.It already uses UTC as its standardised time, which is fairly sensible, unlike Windows and indeed R5 using US Eastern time by default…
Well that is a pity, I really think it is a clumsy way
too achieve a limited goal. No matter how many
companies use this.
How is “Clumsy”? Its already how R5 handled timezones, e.g. chose a location in the time prefs panel and you’re done.
MYOB wrote:
edmundf wrote:MYOB wrote:Haiku already uses the utterly standard UNIX timezones system (I think its written by a US govt. department, opensource), and this handles all timezone data, the dates/times of daylight savings time, etc.It already uses UTC as its standardised time, which is fairly sensible, unlike Windows and indeed R5 using US Eastern time by default…
Well that is a pity, I really think it is a clumsy way
too achieve a limited goal. No matter how many
companies use this.How is “Clumsy”? Its already how R5 handled timezones, e.g. chose a location in the time prefs panel and you’re done.
Maybe there was a misunderstanding… UTC is by far the most standard possible way to track time…
The problem I always have is when dual-booting multiple OSes where each OS interprets the PC clock differently. (hrm…Windows)
How is “Clumsy”? Its already how R5 handled timezones, e.g. chose a location in the time prefs panel and you’re done.
Selecting the time zone is not the problem, setting up ( programming ) this makes no sence.
The programmers have to type all kind of places in my case Amsterdam Paris … and
give it the right time zone. This entries has to be made for all different zones.
Al for the very very limited goal to get a right time zone in your computer.
How much simpler is it to set all computers in GMT or whatever and users fill out the correction for the zone there are in.
Maybe there was a misunderstanding… UTC is by far the most standard possible way to track time…
If this still uses many places too choose from, it stil doesn’t make sence to me.
The problem I always have is when dual-booting multiple OSes where each OS interprets the PC clock differently. (hrm…Windows)
Right but I can live with that, one other problem I have seen is that all my settings
are correct but still people complain about my wrong time setting in newsgroups!?
edmundf wrote:
Selecting the time zone is not the problem, setting up ( programming ) this makes no sence. The programmers have to type all kind of places in my case Amsterdam Paris ....... and give it the right time zone. This entries has to be made for all different zones. Al for the very very limited goal to get a right time zone in your computer. How much simpler is it to set all computers in GMT or whatever and users fill out the correction for the zone there are in.Quote:Maybe there was a misunderstanding... UTC is by far the most standard possible way to track time...If this still uses many places too choose from, it stil doesn’t make sence to me.
Quote:The problem I always have is when dual-booting multiple OSes where each OS interprets the PC clock differently. (hrm....Windows)Right but I can live with that, one other problem I have seen is that all my settings
are correct but still people complain about my wrong time setting in newsgroups!?
I’m not sure why Linux (and other similar systems) give the user a million different selections for their timezone.
Since I am in the continental US, I personally am ever interested in the 4 US timezones… I do know, however, that within the US, there are some states that choose not to support “Daylight Savings” and therefore choosing a timezone isn’t always enough. You must also either choose whether daylight savings is supported manually, or provide additional timezone choices as “exceptions” for these states/areas.
Even within these states that don’t support daylight savings, there are sometimes areas that do - so it becomes even more bothersome.
Then, to complicate matters - there are other countries in these same timezones - and while I am not familiar with their date/time preferences, I will assume that they do not use Daylight Savings, and could possibly have other rules in effect.
I suspect it is details like this that cause so much complication and headache worldwide - and thus make a world-wide standard so complicated to create.
I think what you’re asking is if you can just specify all the +/-n hours and details manually rather than specifying what geographical area they reside in. I think this should be provided in all cases as well - if the user prefers to manually specify their timezone information.
As for your issue with newsgroups - this could be improper date/time handling in your news reader/poster, news server, or even the client-side reader.
Coders don’t need to “type” anything to provide that list :roll:
The timezone data is provided by whatever US govt. department that does it in a package called tzdata, which comes with a timezone compiler(“zic”), etc. Its updated yearly. A properly coded system - which Haiku already is - just has tzdata updated every year and everything that needs it - which is the timezone preferences panel and nothing else - gets the update
I can’t see what you’re whinging about, because there is actually nothing -to- change. It can’t be made any easier for the user, just select your nearest city and it Just Damn Works. It can’t be made any easier for the developers either.
MYOB wrote:
Coders don't need to "type" anything to provide that list :roll:The timezone data is provided by whatever US govt. department that does it in a package called tzdata, which comes with a timezone compiler(“zic”), etc. Its updated yearly. A properly coded system - which Haiku already is - just has tzdata updated every year and everything that needs it - which is the timezone preferences panel and nothing else - gets the update
I can’t see what you’re whinging about, because there is actually nothing -to- change. It can’t be made any easier for the user, just select your nearest city and it Just darn Works. It can’t be made any easier for the developers either.
Maybe I am not clear enough, ( English is not my native language ) I am not complaining
about how difficult it is for users. I say it is an awful lot of programming with therefore
a big change some code is wrong! for the sole purpose of selecting a time zone.
Something any child can do without these stupid code and millions geographical places
to choose from.
And as I stated before it doesn’t just work! the time in newsgroups is wrong.
That apart from what you say that tzdata must be updated every year!???
Doesn’t look like smart programming to me.
But hey forget it, I know simple things must be made very complicated
when it comes to computers.
It must be updated every year because countries change timezones - the United States is changing when its Daylight Savings Time starts/ends in a few years.
There is no extra work for coders, and it provides a very simple method for a user to choose their timezone and get it right.