That is the basic format of ISO8601, hyphens are only used in the extended format which is encouraged to be used in plain text.
See ISO 8601:2004 section 2.3.3 basic format
Infinity is pretty slick
How long ago was that and what did you want to get working? In my experience anything I do has been smoother on modern Linux than on Windows.
The guy transcended the coriander compass.