Microsoft Wrongly Gives Britain the Day Off

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Microsoft Wrongly Gives Britain the Day Off

Posted by samzenpus on Monday May 28, 2012 @04:16AM from the should-have-slept-in dept.

Barence writes "An error in Outlook's public holidays calendar has incorrectly given Britons the day off work. Today was originally meant to be a Bank Holiday in Britain, but the holiday was postponed for a week to coincide with the Queen's diamond jubilee next week. However, Microsoft Outlook and Windows Live services are still reporting today as Britain's Spring Bank Holiday, potentially tricking Britons into believing they have the day off work."

47 of 253 comments (clear)

This is what happens with kings/queens by MrJamas · 2012-05-28 04:16 · Score: 2, Insightful

Cancel or post-pone some actual holiday because their kings/queens have done something else. It's hardly Microsoft's fault. And this would not be mentioned in news if it wasn't USA or UK Kingdom.
1. Re:This is what happens with kings/queens by NoSleepDemon · 2012-05-28 05:06 · Score: 2
  
  If you look at his user profile he's only got two posts, the first one being the GP of this thread.
2. Re:This is what happens with kings/queens by Beardo+the+Bearded · 2012-05-28 06:00 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  Microsoft has people working in the UK and the USA...
  Not today.
  
  --
  
  ---
  ECHELON is a government program to find words like bomb, jihad, plutonium, assassinate, and anarchy.
3. Re:This is what happens with kings/queens by K.+S.+Kyosuke · 2012-05-28 06:35 · Score: 2
  
  Time zone databases also get routinely updated due to legal changes in respective countries. You can expect calendar systems and other timey stuff in foreign countries to require certain flexibility. The ability to Introduce new public holidays or one-off events such as this one should be a commonplace thing in modern applications dealing with timetables.
  
  --
  Ezekiel 23:20
4. Re:This is what happens with kings/queens by mfraz74 · 2012-05-28 07:31 · Score: 5, Informative
  
  I think you'll find that the extra day off is next Tuesday and not this Friday. Oh and Ubuntu has been showing the correct bank holiday for at least a year.
5. Re:This is what happens with kings/queens by JSombra · 2012-05-28 08:28 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  Being from a certain family means you can just change holidays at will? Fuck that.
  Except "they" did not change the day or declare the jubilee a bank holiday, Government did (Labour if i remember correctly). Queen has no authority in creating laws or policy's beyond rubber stamping government policy's. Hell if they even try to talk publicly (or get caught trying to influence privately) about policy's/laws they would like changed/implemented they get lamblasted so in some ways they have less rights that the average citizen
6. Re:This is what happens with kings/queens by ozmanjusri · 2012-05-28 10:47 · Score: 4, Interesting
  
  Microsoft has people working in the UK and the USA...
  Maybe, but the Microsoft people working in the UK are largely employed to market products and lie to governments and standards bodies.
  http://blogs.computerworlduk.com/open-enterprise/2012/05/how-microsoft-fought-true-open-standards-v/index.htm
  http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/The_cost_of_ODF_and_OOXML.html
  Note that you have until June 4 2012 to counter some of this Microsoft propaganda.
  
  Within the Government Digital Service we are already demonstrating how collaboration between departments, along with a clear focus on the user, delivers better public services for less. Open Standards are crucial for sharing information across government boundaries and to deliver a common platform and systems that more easily interconnect. Open standards are vital for progressing this work and I encourage you to share your views in this consultation.
  Francis Maude MP- Minister for the Cabinet Office
  http://consultation.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/openstandards/
  
  --
  "I've got more toys than Teruhisa Kitahara."
7. Re:This is what happens with kings/queens by jd · 2012-05-28 12:14 · Score: 5, Informative
  
  Constitutionally, the monarch is strictly forbidden from talking about policy in public. The government is legally entitled to kick the monarch out of office for such an offense and has attempted to extend that to Prince Charles any number of times. The monarch also has no right to vote and no right to own personal property (they merely have the right to use the property held in trust for the monarchy), so they definitely have fewer rights.
  Yes, Labour changed the holiday, which shows you just how much advance notice Microsoft had and thus the viscosity of the molasses they call management.
  
  --
  It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
8. Re:This is what happens with kings/queens by geedubyoo · 2012-05-28 19:02 · Score: 2
  
  The Queen does have the right to vote, she just chooses not to.
  "Although the law relating to elections does not specifically prohibit the Sovereign from voting in a general election or local election, it is considered unconstitutional for the Sovereign and his or her heir to do so."
  http://www.royal.gov.uk/MonarchUK/QueenandGovernment/Queenandvoting.aspx (The Official Website of the British Monarchy)
9. Re:This is what happens with kings/queens by RaceProUK · 2012-05-28 23:55 · Score: 2
  
  Except a recession. Again.
  
  --
  No colour or religion ever stopped the bullet from a gun
10. Re:This is what happens with kings/queens by gdr · 2012-05-29 00:25 · Score: 2
  
  First sentence of the article linked to (emphasis mine):
  "His Majesty's Declaration of Abdication Act 1936 (1 Edw. 8 & 1 Geo. 6 c. 3) was the Act of the British Parliament that allowed King Edward VIII to abdicate the throne ..."
  The Act did not remove the monarch, it allowed him to abdicate.
11. Re:This is what happens with kings/queens by Hillgiant · 2012-05-29 01:50 · Score: 2
  
  I propose a new rating "-1 Drunk"
  It should have similar consequences as "+1 Funny" with respect to Karma. In essence: "Bless him. He has no idea what he is talking about. We will hide his embarrassment as quickly as possible."
  
  --
  -
12. Re:This is what happens with kings/queens by hippo · 2012-05-29 03:19 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  Exactly, it's taken about 60 years to organize this Diamond Jubilee, who knows how long the next one will take to arrive.
13. Re:This is what happens with kings/queens by grcumb · 2012-05-29 13:51 · Score: 2
  
  Exactly, it's taken about 60 years to organize this Diamond Jubilee, who knows how long the next one will take to arrive.
  Well, the last diamond jubilee was about 117 years ago, so they seem to have got the latency down by almost 50%. I expect the next one in less than 30 years if this trend continues.
  (Slashdot, the playground for false statisticians for centuries!)
  
  --
  Crumb's Corollary: Never bring a knife to a bun fight.
meh by larry+bagina · 2012-05-28 04:18 · Score: 5, Insightful

"potentially"? How about you find some git that skipped work because of it.

--
Do you even lift?
These aren't the 'roids you're looking for.
1. Re:meh by wildstoo · 2012-05-28 04:28 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  Obvious troll is obvious.
  Then again, I'm reading Slashdot at work, so you're "potentially" correct.
2. Re:meh by camperdave · 2012-05-28 04:55 · Score: 2
  
  Yeah, but driving a block and picking up soda and candy can be done during a commercial break. If you had to walk it, the commercials would be over by the time you got back and you'd miss some of the show. There's no commercial break long enough for that... Yet!
  
  --
  When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
3. Re:meh by Inda · 2012-05-28 04:57 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  The British are a lazy people, so it shouldn't be too difficult.
  We're so lazy, our smoke alarms come with a snooze button.
  Jokes aside, it's called Minimum Effort Efficiency.
  
  --
  This post contains benzene, nitrosamines, formaldehyde and hydrogen cyanide.
4. Re:meh by NoSleepDemon · 2012-05-28 05:08 · Score: 2
  
  Some of the ads on youtube are starting to get to about the right length!
5. Re:meh by bobamu · 2012-05-28 06:10 · Score: 2
  
  Well, I'm going to write a treatise on how you just offended 60+ million people. Ah, on second thoughts, too much effort, *reaches for cup of tea*
6. Re:meh by lourd_baltimore · 2012-05-28 06:51 · Score: 2
  
  Walking to buy a drink and some candy, rather than driving, may also incur the death penalty as provided by your neighborhood watch captain.
Microsoft CAN do this. by nurhussein · 2012-05-28 04:21 · Score: 5, Funny

After all, Microsoft does own England.
1. Re:Microsoft CAN do this. by RDW · 2012-05-28 06:26 · Score: 2
  
  This bit doesn't look quite so funny now:
  'One change will immediately be instituted by Microsoft. "Currently students attend English universities yet they do not pay tuition. This is ridiculous. If students in the U.S. pay $50,000 to attend Harvard, Yale or Stanford, British students should do the same to attend Oxbridge." What about those students who cannot afford to pay such a high level of tuition? Gates responded, "Look, I am not totally heartless. Microsoft will be introducing its lifetime earnings program. They can attend any British university for free as long as they agree to pay us 20 percent of their annual earnings for the rest of their lives. I'm even willing to offer a one year moratorium after graduation."'
2. Re:Microsoft CAN do this. by ais523 · 2012-05-28 06:34 · Score: 2
  
  For non-Brits who don't know: the paragraph in question, although it was written as a joke, is turning out to be surprisingly accurate (the numbers aren't 100% spot on, but the basic concept is). Fortunately, the earnings tax goes away after you've paid off enough money, but it can still last quite a while.
  There were student riots over this last year (not the big riots in London, smaller ones in individual universities).
  
  --
  (1)DOCOMEFROM!2~.2'~#1WHILE:1<-"'?.1$.2'~'"':1/.1$.2'~#0"$#65535'"$"'"'&.1$.2'~'#0$#65535'"$#0'~#32767$#1"
3. Re:Microsoft CAN do this. by RDW · 2012-05-28 12:48 · Score: 2
  
  Why should a coal miner, or perpetual student, subsidise the education of some city lawyers and bankers?
  I'm descended from coal miners. They were people who cared about education; they built libraries in their working men's halls, organised festivals of music and culture, and wanted the best for their children. I think they would have been delighted to know that free university education was, for a few decades at least, available to any of their descendents who were able to take advantage of it. I think they would have been deeply disappointed that the idea of higher education as a public good, which allowed young people to develop their full potential without fear of debt, would soon be replaced by a system of career mortgages (to add to the huge housing mortgages that graduates will now also be paying).
  We've played a pretty nasty trick on the current generation. Those of us who received free higher education did so in the expectation that our taxes would fund the next generation of students (and since we had degrees, we'd probably be earning higher salaries and paying more taxes). But it turns out we'll (supposedly) be able to get away with not paying for them after all, since they'll now have to cover their fees themselves. Hurrah for us!
My Dilbert Calender by tmosley · 2012-05-28 04:25 · Score: 3, Funny

My Dilbert calender says today was a holiday in the UK as well. DAMN YOU SCOTT ADAMS!
So what? by tehlinux · 2012-05-28 04:26 · Score: 3, Insightful

If the brits don't already know their holiday was moved, why should they expect MS to be on top of that?

--
Most linux users don't know this, but the man pages were named after Chuck Norris. Chuck Norris fsck'ing hates noobs!
1. Re:So what? by _0x783czar · 2012-05-28 04:32 · Score: 2
  
  I agree, I mean... I love to laugh at Microsoft blunders as much as the next guy, but I don't see this as anything to write home about...
  
  --
  ~theCzar
Finally, a real.. by Anonymous Coward · 2012-05-28 04:28 · Score: 5, Funny

Windows Genuine Advantage
Lessee here.... by CajunArson · 2012-05-28 04:29 · Score: 4, Insightful

1. Google calendar has the same issue which is more embarrassing since Google calendar is online by definition and can be fixed more easily than outlook.
2. Apparently you can download an updated holidays file and patch Outlook.
3. Now that we've had our daily Microsoft-is-the-stupidest-and-evilest-company-on-the-planet-for-not-accurately-predicting-an-arbitrary-holiday-date-change-years-in-advance post, I'd like to see some more stories about how Americans are stupid and evil and some scientific studies showing that Christians are genetically inferior to the Atheist master race.

--
AntiFA: An abbreviation for Anti First Amendment.
1. Re:Lessee here.... by itsdapead · 2012-05-28 04:57 · Score: 2
  
  1. Google calendar has the same issue which is more embarrassing since Google calendar is online by definition and can be fixed more easily than outlook.
  Google's getting it right for me - of course, I didn't check this morning so they may have fixed it at the 11th hour...
  
  --
  In a survey of 100 programmers, 111111 thought that duck-typing was a good idea.
2. Re:Lessee here.... by Anonymous Coward · 2012-05-28 05:37 · Score: 2, Funny
  
  Oh, great, you're persecuting someone with a persecution complex about their persecution complex? That doesn't usually help.
In their defense... by MobyDisk · 2012-05-28 04:31 · Score: 4, Funny

but the holiday was postponed for a week to coincide with the Queen's diamond jubilee
In their defense, I must point out that the Queen of England writes terrible VBScript code. It probably is still being reviewed. If she wants to postpone a national holiday, she needs to get her changes committed at least 2 weeks prior to the hotfix release date.
1. Re:In their defense... by tehcyder · 2012-05-29 01:03 · Score: 2
  
  But that's a bit of a mouthful.
  As Lady Di said to James Hewitt.
  
  Too soon?
  
  --
  To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
Is it actually a problem? by king+neckbeard · 2012-05-28 04:36 · Score: 2

How many people actually rely on Outlook to tell them what days they have off, particularly something like "Spring Bank Holiday"?

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This is my signature. There are many like it, but this one is mine.
Re:Seems a bit late to post this! by Richard_at_work · 2012-05-28 04:42 · Score: 5, Informative

Normal work hours in the UK are 9am to 5.30pm, with an hour for lunch (this is typical of every job I have worked, non-retail). This was posted at about 5.15pm - just before the end of the normal working day for most people.
UK isn't England by norfolkboy · 2012-05-28 04:50 · Score: 5, Interesting

I don't pay any attention anyway.
Microsoft insists in referring to England as the UK when in fact they mean England.
Scotland has different holidays to England, but these aren't available to Scottish users according to MS.
Last year Windows UK had a UK tour, which only toured English cities. Nothing in Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland.
A peeved UK citizen in Scotland.
1. Re:UK isn't England by Nethead · 2012-05-28 04:58 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  A peeved UK citizen in Scotland.
  Isn't that statement redundant?
  
  --
  -- I have a private email server in my basement.
2. Re:UK isn't England by gbjbaanb · 2012-05-28 05:03 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  not so, not all Scottish UK citizens are peeved, most of them are just drunk.
"tricking"? by nurb432 · 2012-05-28 04:53 · Score: 2

if you cant think enough for yourself and don't know when a holiday really is, you have bigger problems.
Same sorts of people that will drive into a brick wall when the GPS says to turn right.

--
---- Booth was a patriot ----
Re:Still better than the error by damien_kane · 2012-05-28 04:56 · Score: 2, Funny

That sent us back to 1792. I couldn't even have toast since sliced bread hadn't been invented yet.
You could have invented it yourself, and then been the inventor of the greatest thing until [insert cool thing here].
There's no way we could be tricked by this... by shippers · 2012-05-28 05:13 · Score: 2

It isn't raining.
Re:MS Creates Holidays? by busyqth · 2012-05-28 05:24 · Score: 2

Wait--who relies on Microsoft to tell when they have off work?
Microsoft employees.
Re:Seems a bit late to post this! by rtfa-troll · 2012-05-28 07:24 · Score: 2

"That strange yellow ball in the sky".
Don't worry; it's just an advert for the Olympic flame. It will certainly go away before the games start.

--
=~ s,(.*),<sarcasm>$1</sarcasm>,g if any_point_you_wish();
Re:LOL Monarchy by TheRaven64 · 2012-05-28 08:35 · Score: 4, Insightful

The depressing thing is that our anachronistic, out-of-touch, hereditary monarch is probably the sanest and best informed member of our government...

--
I am TheRaven on Soylent News
Re:LOL Monarchy by Spudley · 2012-05-28 09:19 · Score: 2

The depressing thing is that our anachronistic, out-of-touch, hereditary monarch is probably the sanest and best informed member of our government...
Not to mention the most popular.
And the least corrupt.

--
(Spudley Strikes Again!)
Re:LOL Monarchy by jd · 2012-05-28 12:30 · Score: 2

I've a suspicion that some of those aren't independent variables. It would be interesting to know how they connect, because then instead of having to get depressed, you'd know why the rest of government was so flawed on such a consistent basis and what was actually needed in the way of reform. Discovery is only depressing if you never do anything with it.

--
It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)