@gubbs
Garmin probably thinks it's simple psychological marketing to make you feel like you're getting something ahead of it's time (?). But to me it seems pointless or even self-defeating because most people who bought a 2012.10 in early 2011 wouldn't even think about updating unless the 'old map' reminder popped up on the screen in any case. By 2013 they've forgotten that the '2012' map is really at least 2 yrs old. Probably too late for Garmin to change it easily now, jumping back to the real calendar would cause all sort of confusion, except if they did it by progressively delaying new releases over several years until they caught up with the real years & quarters. It's not even consistent across the world now anyway.