<div dir="ltr">On Tue, Aug 13, 2013 at 5:32 PM, Paul Eggert <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:eggert@cs.ucla.edu" target="_blank">eggert@cs.ucla.edu</a>></span> wrote:<br><div class="gmail_extra"><div class="gmail_quote">
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left-width:1px;border-left-color:rgb(204,204,204);border-left-style:solid;padding-left:1ex"><div><span style="color:rgb(34,34,34)">No real reduction in quality is being proposed.</span><br>
</div>
There's no significant difference in behavior between<br>
the current and proposed data.<br>
<br></blockquote><div><br></div><div>Making a change such as:<br><br></div><div><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">-HR +4548+01558 Europe/Zagreb</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">
<span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">+HR +4548+01558 Europe/Belgrade</span><br><br>is a drastic difference in behavior for end users, even if it does not affect the actual time displayed on the screen. To the *end user* this is both a "reduction in quality" and "significant difference", to use your words, as this string will appear on their screen in fairly common software applications. Whether we like it or not, these strings are used in UX around the world. Strings with words were chosen as identifiers instead of integers, hex numbers, or some other computable form because they're easy for a human to grok, remember, and reference. Words, of course, can be associated with feelings.</div>
<div><br></div><div>Striving for technical purity doesn't obviate the need for common sense. Common sense dictated that the zones be broken up so that each country had an identifier in zone.tab to avoid confusion (or other feelings). Common sense dictates they should remain that way. It is hard to specify and codify common sense, which is why there is a place to have (hopefully) civilized discourse. Personally, I do not feel that zone identifier modifications occur frequently enough to eschew this common sense. Others may disagree, so I'd like to see opinions on the list from anyone else who *favors* the change made above and all others in the proposed patch.</div>
<div><br></div><div>-Andrew</div><div><br></div></div></div></div>