time display format

[argonaut]

The time display format used by the client is unclear. If it says "Timeout: 2013-08-02T03:53:24Z" while System Info says "UTC Offset -4", does it mean the timeout in local time is 2013-08-02 07:53:24 or 2013-08-01T23:53:24 ?
It would be best to show times using the local time, as is standard for other applications. It would also be good to show the amount of time left until timeout, and perhaps be able to set a warning to be displayed if the difference between that amount and ETA falls below some threshold (so that e.g. one can remember to run the client overnight). Thanks!

[bruce]

The international standard for time used to be called Greenwich Mean Time but it's now known as UTC (Coordinated Universal Time, in French). UTC isn't really a timezone since even in Greenwich, England, they observe seasonal adjustments of 1 hour. (UTC does not change.) The letter Z (pronounced "Zulu") at the end indicates that it's UTC or Zero offset from UTC, not local time.

You could get one of those special clocks with two hour-hands and offset one by -4 hours or just get used to mentally subtracting 4 hours.

[Napoleon]

It's more or less standard format: ISO 8601. The "Z" (Zero, or Zulu in NATO phonetic alphabet, hence "Zulu time") means UTC+0. So, at UTC Offset -4 the local time would be 2013-08-01T23:53:24 in your example. Since FAH is a more or less global effort, I suppose they wanted to use a global standard for expressing time. FYI, there's ticket #807 concerning ETA readability etc.

[Jesse_V]

Folding@home is a very global project. See http://folding.stanford.edu/English/Maps Things are bit more sane if we're all on the same timezone when we examine logs and whatnot. Going with GMT/UTC is particularly helpful at comparing ETAs and timeouts, especially when not everyone broadcasts where they are.

[Napoleon]

The international standard for time used to be called Greenwich Mean Time but it's now known as UTC (Coordinated Universal Time, in French). UTC isn't really a timezone since even in Greenwich, England, they observe seasonal adjustments of 1 hour. (UTC does not change.)

BTW, Iceland (capital: Reykjavik) doesn't observe DST (Daylight Saving Time), so for them, it's always UTC+0. Might be a handy tidbit of information if you're traveling and you absolutely have to know actual Zulu time: just check Iceland/Reykjavik time in your preferred gadget if it doesn't show UTC+0 directly.