Discussion
Some deeply silly questions Wikipedia doesn't answer:
- Do I understand that Swatch Internet Time does not specify *dates*, only *times of day*? That is, you could not specify an absolute datetime using Swatch Internet Time alone, you also have to pick a calendar system?
- Swatch Internet Time is defined relative to UTC, *not* TAI, correct? (WP says yes but has iffy sourcing.)
- What is the intellectual property status of Swatch Internet Time? Presumably "Swatch" is trademarked. Is ".beats"?
So here's my proposal for least convenient way of specifying a datetime:
- Japanese imperial year (eg Reiwa 8)
- Month and day in French Revolutionary calendar (eg Messidor 27)
- Time of day as Swatch .Beats (eg @760 )
Antifeatures of this system include:
- Can't predict future years "offline" (you need the realtime status of the Japanese royal family)
- Poor software support
- Intellectual property encumbrance (purely gratuitous because the First Republic had its own decimal time system)
A few years ago this variant was bouncing around
I briefly used it, and found it jibed pretty well with how I was living/working at the time.
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