- 17 Jan. 2011 -

Google seems to be a company that can make things happen and create services that really are beneficial for the masses. However comprehensible error messages are apparently not easy for them either. I just came across with the following error / notification message from Google Apps calender:

Finnish version:

Oletko varma?
Olet sallimassa tapahtuman muokkaamisen vieraille. Tämä johtaa siihen, että vieraat menettävät mahdollisesti luomansa ohitukset. Haluatko jatkaa?
|  OK  |  Peruuta  |

English version:

Are You Sure?
You are about to allow event modification by guests. This will result in guests losing any overrides that they may have created. Continue?
|  OK  |  Cancel  |

So, what on earth are they speaking about? First I thought that the Finnish translation had gone really wrong, which unfortunately often is the case. But no, the English language version of the notification is just as uninformative as the Finnish one is. The main problem is with this sentience: “This will result in guests losing any overrides that they may have created.” Overrides, what overrides?

After surfing a bit using the English version of the sentience I found an explanation. “Dingus” tells us at http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/Calendar/thread?tid=55f42794910379a1&hl=en that:

"A third party is attempting to alternate a prior modification to an event. One person created the event, (in this instance probably you), another person suggested or made a modification to the original event by changing some dynamic (time or otherwise), and then a third person is making an additional change. The creator settings for the event are such that permission is required, and if granted, the second set of changes will be replaced by a third."

To help you understand, here's how I ended up with this error / notification message. I first created a calendar event with my mobile phone, which I synced to my Google Apps calender. Then I decided to share the event with my wife's Google Apps calender (and eventually her mobile) and let her also make modifications to the event.

The explanation of the error / notification message

So what I understood, and I sincerely hope that I got it right, was that the calendar event was firstly created by my mobile's calender and then edited by me thru web interface and the warning message was about the possibility that after sharing the event to the third party (here my wife), that third party would have a possibility to again make changes to the event, and thus possibly re-change the changes I've already made. So OKing the notification was no problem for me, as this is what I wanted to do.

Corrections to the message

But why Google is speaking about “overrides”. At least English – Finnish dictionary doesn't give any viable translations to this. And the translation Google is using (Override = Ohitus) is correct, but both words are just plain wrong. Here are my suggestions to make the messages more informative:

Finnish version current:

Oletko varma?
Olet sallimassa tapahtuman muokkaamisen vieraille. Tämä johtaa siihen, että vieraat menettävät mahdollisesti luomansa ohitukset. Haluatko jatkaa?
|  OK  |  Peruuta  |

Finnish version my suggestion:

Oletko varma?
Olet sallimassa tapahtuman muokkaamisen vieraille. Tämä johtaa siihen, että uudet vieraat voivat halutessaan muuttaa tapahtuman nykyisten käyttäjien jo aikaisemmin mahdollisesti tekemiä muutoksia. Haluatko jatkaa?
|  OK  |  Peruuta  |

English version current:

Are You Sure?
You are about to allow event modification by guests. This will result in guests losing any overrides that they may have created. Continue?
|  OK  |  Cancel  |

English version my suggestion:

Are You Sure?
You are about to allow event modification by guests. This will result in a possibility that new guests could alter the event details that possibly have already earlier been changed by the existing users. Continue?
|  OK  |  Cancel  |