Les Jones

Nifty > Microsoft vs. the Funeral Home

Today is St. Patrick's Day, though you wouldn't know it if you're an Outlook user. I've used computers for about 15 years, and one thing has remained constant. Computer calendars stink.

I was reminded of this recently when I was wondering when Easter was going to fall this year.* Microsoft Outlook doesn't say, and neither do most computer calendars. I usually wind up Googling to find the date of major holidays.

I finally looked up Easter on a free calendar from the local funeral home. This one had all of the major and minor holidays, the phases of the moon, advice on the best dates to plant and harvest crops and the best days to fish in the morning or evening.

This is an open challenge to Microsoft (stock symbol MSFT). Come up with a calendar better than the freebie from the local funeral home (stock symbol DETH). I want Outlook XP to have a Corn Planting Wizard and IntelliFish technology. Failing that, I'd settle for holidays, phases of the moon, and the time changes. Windows automatically adjusts my computer's clock for the time change so I know you've got it figured out. If not, here's the secret formula: the time change is the first Sunday in April and the last Sunday in October.

* The rule of thumb for Easter is that it's the first Sunday after the first full moon after the spring equinox. The equinox is usually March 21. It's March 20 this year because of leap year. The full moon might come a day after that or it might come almost four weeks later, which is why the date for Easter is so variable (from March 22 to April 25).

The rule of thumb doesn't always work. For a more complete formula for calculating Easter along with its history in the church, see this FAQ at the U.S. Naval Observatory, which is a fascinating site.

Computer calendars could easily calculate the ten U.S. federal holidays:

Under current definitions, four are set by date:

New Year's Day (January 1)
Independence Day (July 4)
Veterans Day (November 11)
Christmas Day (December 25)

If any of the above fall on a Saturday, then Friday may be observed as a holiday by various institutions. Similarly, if one falls on a Sunday, then Monday may be observed as a holiday.

The other six are set by a day of the week and month:

Martin Luther King's Birthday (Third Monday in January)
Washington's Birthday (Third Monday in February)
Memorial Day (Last Monday in May)
Labor Day (First Monday in September)
Columbus Day (Second Monday in October)
Thanksgiving (Fourth Thursday in November)

Data from this USNO page.