[Bluenoser63]

I have the Region set to Canada (English). The problem is that the date format is wrong. The Government of Canada and more importantly, CSA dictates that Canada use the ISO 8601 for date formats. That means that the format should be yyyy/mm/dd. Instead the format is mm/dd/yy which is not the correct format for Canada. You would think that a Canadian company could get the date format correct for Canada.

[habs_fan]

My BlackBerry says dd/ month/ year
Which is what we use in the Cdn military

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[LazyEvul]

My BlackBerry says dd/ month/ year
Which is what we use in the Cdn military

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I've got the same format on my Z10 in Toronto, and frankly I prefer it to yyyy/mm/dd. Having said that, I understand some people might want to change it, but I can't find any option to do so from a quick glance.

[habs_fan]

Yes, I can't find anywhere to change it, but I'm happy it's day/month/year

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[Bluenoser63]

My BlackBerry says dd/ month/ year
Which is what we use in the Cdn military

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The Canadian Military uses dd/mmm/yy where mmm is the month abbreviation.

[Bluenoser63]

I've got the same format on my Z10 in Toronto, and frankly I prefer it to yyyy/mm/dd. Having said that, I understand some people might want to change it, but I can't find any option to do so from a quick glance.

It is not what someone prefers, it should be dictated by the standard. In Canada, this is ISO 8601.

[Fr3lncr]

It is not what someone prefers, it should be dictated by the standard. In Canada, this is ISO 8601.

Sorry but I don't think a standard should dictate what a person uses, the person should be able to choose the format they want. Standards exist to ensure a 'minimum' level of functionality, not the only level of functionality. Like within Windows, you can choose whatever format you wish regardless of where you live and what the default might be.

And I actually prefer the yy/mm/dd format myself. They should just allow the user to choose which method they want, like you can on other platforms. Another item for BB to add to their to do list.

[SkypilotOfHope]

Interesting. I prefer d/m/y so no complaints from me.

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[Bluenoser63]

Sorry but I don't think a standard should dictate what a person uses, the person should be able to choose the format they want.

Really? I guess you want to use the Mayan calendar then? Standards exist for a reason. They avoid confusion. Please tell me what date this is? 02/08/06

ISO 8601 stops all the confusion.

This reminds me of the time when some people choose the format that they wanted and some choose another format.

CNN - NASA's metric confusion caused Mars orbiter loss - September 30, 1999

The world moves smoother when there is less confusion.

[Richard Buckley]

ISO 8601 Data elements and interchange formats – Information interchange – Representation of dates and times is an international standard covering the exchange of date and time-related data. It was issued by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and was first published in 1988. The purpose of this standard is to provide an unambiguous and well-defined method of representing dates and times, so as to avoid misinterpretation of numeric representations of dates and times, particularly when data is transferred between countries with different conventions for writing numeric dates and times.

So, not a Canadian standard. I understand what you are saying, but the fact is most people don't use ISO standard anything, let alone date and time. However if you are going to climb on a soap box to preach about standards you should make sure your arguments meet the standard, otherwise it is just chaos.

CSA Z234.5

[Bluenoser63]

So, not a Canadian standard. I understand what you are saying, but the fact is most people don't use ISO standard anything, let alone date and time. However if you are going to climb on a soap box to preach about standards you should make sure your arguments meet the standard, otherwise it is just chaos.

CSA Z234.5

CSA Z234.5 is the Canadian standard which says to use ISO 8601. They are the same. I mentioned CSA in my first post.

People use ISO more than you think.

[Richard Buckley]

But there is no mandate to use it for documents to be legal for example. It just hasn't caught on for every day use even though it has been around for decades.

Although different calendar date formats are found in Canada, both in French and in English, the Treasury Board of the Government of Canada has mandated the use of the ISO 8601 date format to eliminate calendar-date errors in information transfer.

Where confusion could be a problem, such as in banking, additional instructions for the end-user may be offered. Bank cheques must include date field indicators showing which of the three formats is being used; spaces or dashes are permitted as separators on date-formatted cheques, but not slashes.

Social Insurance applications for Canada use DMY format. Passport applications and tax returns use YYYY-MM-DD. Nearly all English newspapers use MDY (MMM[M] D, YYYY). The default date format used by Microsoft Windows for Canada for all-numeric dates is YYYY-MM-DD, although older systems may show DD/MM/YYYY.

Bit of a dog's breakfast really, unfortunately. Especially with government forms not complying with TB mandate. Unfortunately standards without teeth are recommendations, and ISO 8601 while a boon to programmers is just confusing to a lot of people.
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[Bluenoser63]

and ISO 8601 while a boon to programmers is just confusing to a lot of people.
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What is confusing is this.. What date is this? 02/03/04. I know that 2013/05/28 is today.

[Zirak]

I much prefer if you write the date as you say the date, makes it even LESS confusing.
so if you tell me it is May 28th, 2013, I would write it as 5/28/13
if you tell me it is 28 May 2013, I would say it sounds stupid.
if you tell me it is May 28th, 2013, then write it opposite. yea, I confused already, Yoda.

[dcbo89]

I've never seen the date done in that way and I've always lived in Canada. Though I can never remember which comes first day or month social I may not be the best source for it. All I known is the year goes last for me as for the most part it is the least important variable.

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[thurask]

What is confusing is this.. What date is this? 02/03/04. I know that 2013/05/28 is today.

Yet 2013/06/01 is either in a couple of days or six months ago.



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[Bluenoser63]

I've never seen the date done in that way and I've always lived in Canada. Though I can never remember which comes first day or month social I may not be the best source for it. All I known is the year goes last for me as for the most part it is the least important variable.

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You have never filed your income taxes? Never wrote a cheque? You don't have a drivers lic? Never filled in a government form?

[Bluenoser63]

Yet 2013/06/01 is either in a couple of days or six months ago.
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Nope. Not with ISO 8601.

[madx80h]

I much prefer if you write the date as you say the date, makes it even LESS confusing.
so if you tell me it is May 28th, 2013, I would write it as 5/28/13
if you tell me it is 28 May 2013, I would say it sounds stupid.
if you tell me it is May 28th, 2013, then write it opposite. yea, I confused already, Yoda.

While I prefer the format MM/DD/YYYY as well, it can sound OK said both ways. For example: A) 02/05/2014, The event is taking place February 5, 2014. B) 05/02/2014, The event is taking place on the 5th of February, 2014. Neither sound silly to me, which is why it can get confusing

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[Bairdo]

Nope. Not with ISO 8601.

Dude give it a rest already - we get it. ISO8601 is going to prevent the zombie apocalypse, cure cancer and save the whales.

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[dcbo89]

You have never filed your income taxes? Never wrote a cheque? You don't have a drivers lic? Never filled in a government form?

Yeah in honestly do not pay attention to that when I do my taxes or such. It's noted what it wants where and you just write that in. No thinking required.

For my own purposes I just use the good old method of: May 29, 2013.

I understand the logic of putting the year first, electronic sorting, but when dealing with the human brain it's backwards. It's trying to graft electronic thinking into real life and the 2 are not necessarily compatible.

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[anon(870071)]

**rolls eyes**!
Really!?!?!?

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