ralph@cbnewsj.ATT.COM (Ralph Brandi) (02/02/90)
In article <4769@utastro.UUCP> bill@utastro.UUCP (William H. Jefferys) writes: >When reading a TEXT file with a date, Excel consistently subtracts >4 years and 1 day from the date. Thus, a text file containing >the date 3/10/90 will have the date converted to 3/9/86 when >Excel reads it. 4 years and 1 day.... Why does that sound so familiar? Could it be that the default start date for the Macintosh is January 1, 1904? Subtract 4 years and 1 day from that and you get December 31, 1899 (or maybe midnight, January 1, 1900....) Nah, Microsoft wouldn't be so stupid as to start counting from the wrong day.... -- Ralph Brandi ralph@lzfme.att.com att!lzfme!ralph Work flows toward the competent until they are submerged.
urlichs@smurf.ira.uka.de (02/06/90)
In comp.sys.mac ralph@cbnewsj.ATT.COM (Ralph Brandi) writes: < In article <4769@utastro.UUCP> bill@utastro.UUCP (William H. Jefferys) writes: < < >When reading a TEXT file with a date, Excel consistently subtracts < >4 years and 1 day from the date. Thus, a text file containing < >the date 3/10/90 will have the date converted to 3/9/86 when < >Excel reads it. < < 4 years and 1 day.... Why does that sound so familiar? < < Could it be that the default start date for the Macintosh is January < 1, 1904? Subtract 4 years and 1 day from that and you get December < 31, 1899 (or maybe midnight, January 1, 1900....) < Don't forget that 1900 was _not_ a leap year, so if you forget to consider that fact in your date calculation, the additional day starts to make sense. < Nah, Microsoft wouldn't be so stupid as to start counting from the < wrong day.... Indeed not. They have some far more stupid things they're currently doing. -- Matthias Urlichs