[GalFisk] Damn those guys

[GalFisk]

How did two guys working at Apple manage to slightly annoy a great number of Norwegians?

[Sundowner64]

Emojis relevant?
One specific Apple product? Apple products in general? No specific Apple product?
Did this happen just recently?
A great number of Norwegians: a group sharing a particular property (other than being annoyed)?

[GalFisk]

Emojis relevant? No.
One specific Apple product? Apple products in general? No specific Apple product? Apple products are irr.
Did this happen just recently? 6-7 years ago, IIRC.
A great number of Norwegians: a group sharing a particular property (other than being annoyed)? Very loosely.

[Bardificer]

Did they cause the annoyance while on the job? Was it related to: something they did in the workplace? Something they did online? Something posted on the company website or social media? An advertisement or offer? Did they say/write anything about Norway? Or did they seem to?

Did those Norwegians own Apple products? Were they trying to buy them? Or interact with the company in some way?

Were the Norwegians: teased? insulted? inconvenienced? ignored? called out specifically in any way? Did they have to do something extra that others did not have to do?

[GalFisk]

Did they cause the annoyance while on the job? Was it related to: something they did in the workplace? Yes to both. Something they did online? Irr. Something posted on the company website or social media? No. An advertisement or offer? No. Did they say/write anything about Norway? Yes. Or did they seem to? Irr.

Did those Norwegians own Apple products? Not necessarily. Were they trying to buy them? Or interact with the company in some way? Both irrelevant.

Were the Norwegians: teased? insulted? inconvenienced? Yes, to a small extent. ignored? called out specifically in any way? Did they have to do something extra that others did not have to do? No to the others.

[trebor2]

Were these two people higher-ups at Apple? Does it matter what their specific job was? Did they work in marketing? Product naming?

Does this play on stereotypes of Norwegians? Norwegian crime fiction relevant? Norwegian culture? Or the culture/traditions/stereotypes of a certain part of Norway? Dialects relevant? Norwegian food?

Did something the two people did cost certain Norwegians time? Money? Did it make them do some extra work? Go out of their way somehow? (Perhaps they were filming a commercial or something and it closed down a major road or something like that?)

[GalFisk]

Were these two people higher-ups at Apple? Not sure. Does it matter what their specific job was? Yes, in general terms. Did they work in marketing? Product naming? No to both.

Does this play on stereotypes of Norwegians? Norwegian crime fiction relevant? Norwegian culture? Or the culture/traditions/stereotypes of a certain part of Norway? Dialects relevant? Norwegian food? No to all.

Did something the two people did cost certain Norwegians time? Money? Did it make them do some extra work? Go out of their way somehow? (Perhaps they were filming a commercial or something and it closed down a major road or something like that?) No to all (except the time and work some of them put into complaining about it).

[doriana_]

Norwegian language relevant? Did the two guys work in translation/localization?

[GalFisk]

Norwegian language relevant? No. Did the two guys work in translation/localization? Yes.

[Traveller]

Norwegian (and also Danish) special letters ( ÆØÅæøå ) relevant?

[GalFisk]

Norwegian (and also Danish) special letters ( ÆØÅæøå ) relevant? No.

[Sundowner64]

Time zone relevant? Currency? Date/time/currency format settings?

[GalFisk]

Time zone relevant? Currency? Date/time/currency format settings? Yes, time format.

[Sundowner64]

Did they configure a default setting for Norway which was not the one people in Norway were used to?
So people had to change the time format each time they started to use a new device?
12 hours vs. 24 hours time format relevant?
Leading zeroes in the hours and minutes?

[GalFisk]

Did they configure No. a default setting for Norway which was not the one people in Norway were used to? But yes.
So people had to change the time format each time they started to use a new device? Either that, or accept the change.
12 hours vs. 24 hours time format relevant? No.
Leading zeroes in the hours and minutes? No.

[Sundowner64]

Colon vs. dot separator relevant? Did the device show the time with dots although colon is common practice in Norway? vice versa?
Is there a reason why only Norwegians were annoyed by that? Was the change made only for Norway or Norwegien language?
Bokmal vs. Nynorsk relevant? Did they set Nynorsk as the default setting for Norway? Was the group of Norwegians who were annoyed the speakers of Bokmal?

[GalFisk]

Colon vs. dot separator relevant? Yes. Did the device Which device? show the time with dots although colon is common practice in Norway? Yes. vice versa?
Is there a reason why only Norwegians were annoyed by that? Was the change made only for Norway or Norwegien language? Yes, this.
Bokmal vs. Nynorsk relevant? Did they set Nynorsk as the default setting for Norway? Was the group of Norwegians who were annoyed the speakers of Bokmal? Nynorsk/Bokmål are are irr.

[trebor2]

Was this change made because of a misunderstanding? Because they thought it would be better for Norwegians? Make usage of Apple products easier? Less confusing? Was the colon used for something else that they wanted to avoid mixing the time up with?

Is there some technological/programming reason for doing this? Do other Scandinavian countries use the dot format instead of the colon?

[GalFisk]

Was this change made because of a misunderstanding? Yes. Because they thought it would be better for Norwegians? Probably. Make usage of Apple products easier? FA. Less confusing? Was the colon used for something else that they wanted to avoid mixing the time up with? No/irr.

Is there some technological/programming reason for doing this? No. Do other Scandinavian countries use the dot format instead of the colon? No.

[Sundowner64]

Did the change occur in some app? in iOS/macOS?
Was the change distributed via a system update?
Was the change pre-installed on new devices from a certain point in time on?
Did apps that used colon instead of dot stopped to work properly?
Apple devices or Apple software relevant at all?

[GalFisk]

Did the change occur in some app? in iOS/macOS? Possibly, but irr.
Was the change distributed via a system update? Yesish, DYOD of system update.
Was the change pre-installed on new devices from a certain point in time on? Yes.
Did apps that used colon instead of dot stopped to work properly? Irr.
Apple devices or Apple software relevant at all? No. FA cleared.

[doriana_]

Are non-Apple devices relevant? Non-Apple software?

[GalFisk]

Are non-Apple devices relevant? Non-Apple software? Yes to both.

[trebor2]

Does it matter that these two work for Apple? Did they do something that affected Android devices? Did Apple create something that resulted in other companies making a change to their products? Perhaps to differentiate them from Apple? Or to fill a void that Apple created?

[GalFisk]

Does it matter that these two work for Apple? Only because it's true. Any big IT company would probably work. Did they do something that affected Android devices? Did Apple create something that resulted in other companies making a change to their products? Perhaps to differentiate them from Apple? Or to fill a void that Apple created? No to all.

[Sundowner64]

Did these two make a recommendation to the government? Was some official technical standard changed? so that time-displaying devices had to use dot instead of colon from some moment on?

[trebor2]

Were any Norwegians consulted before this change was made? Was that when the misunderstanding occurred? Is the misunderstanding because of something someone wrote? Spoke? Was the misunderstanding on the part of the Apple employees? Someone else?

Is a mistranslation relevant? Perhaps a mistranslation of "colon" or "semi-colon"? Relevant that a semi-colon is bigger than a colon? (I was always confused about why a semi-colon isn't half as big as a colon when printed, but apparently it's to do with the length of the pause you're supposed to take when speaking them. Huh.)

[GalFisk]

Did these two make a recommendation to the government? it was a standards body, I think they're non-governmental, but irr. Was some official technical standard changed? Either changed or established, I'm not sure. so that time-displaying devices had to use dot instead of colon from some moment on? Not exactly, but explore.


Were any Norwegians consulted before this change was made? Probably not. Was that when the misunderstanding occurred? No. Is the misunderstanding because of something someone wrote? Yes. Spoke? No. Was the misunderstanding on the part of the Apple employees? Yes. Someone else? Possibly.

Is a mistranslation relevant? Perhaps a mistranslation of "colon" or "semi-colon"? Relevant that a semi-colon is bigger than a colon? (I was always confused about why a semi-colon isn't half as big as a colon when printed, but apparently it's to do with the length of the pause you're supposed to take when speaking them. Huh.) No to all.

Almost there. Explore what non-Apple thing was affected, and why the change took some time to manifest for most Norwegians. hint: it was a quite sudden change.

[trebor2]

Is the non-Apple thing another smart device? A phone? Tablet? Computer? GPS? Car display? Fitbit? Smart watch? Relevant what brand?

Did it take time for the changes to happen because of daylight savings? Something to do with the calendar? The device not having been available in Norway previously? A change in laws?

[GalFisk]

Is the non-Apple thing another smart device? A phone? Tablet? Computer? This. GPS? Car display? Fitbit? Smart watch? Relevant what brand? No

Did it take time for the changes to happen because of daylight savings? Something to do with the calendar? The device not having been available in Norway previously? No to all. A change in laws? No, but OTRT.

[doriana_]

Does the change affect all computers? computers of (a) specific brand(s)? computers running a specific operating system? computers used by a specific company or organization?

[GalFisk]

Does the change affect all computers? computers of (a) specific brand(s)? computers running a specific operating system? This. computers used by a specific company or organization?
And you've gotten the gist of it, so it's time for the
***SPOILER***
True story: I worked at Microsoft customer support for Norway when Windows 10 came out, and Norwegians started complaining that their computers all of a sudden used a dot instead of a colon as a time separator. No other devices or OSes had done this previously.
I did some digging, and it turns out that the change comes from Windows 10 following a different set of standards than earlier verions. I looked up the decision making that led up to that standard, and it pretty much boils down to one Apple employee going "I think it's a dot," and another saying "I agree."
And now, no-one important enough to get it changed seems to care enough to do it. It doesn't help that a reputable Norwegian encyclopedia says it can be either a dot or a colon.

Thanks for playing!