Comments on: Wake up to the 'daylight saving' bug

Y2K flashback? Turning the clock forward early is causing headaches for IT pros, and consumers should pay attention, too.

[wbenton]

Potential for a problem?

What is the potential for a problem?

Exactly the same as the potential for the Y2K problem!

But the Y2K problem panned out to be no problem at all... thus shouldn't this too be gaffed off as another Y2K scare?

NOPE!!!

The ONLY reason the Y2K when over almost flawlessly was because of all the media attention it drew. It caused people to double-check and triple-check to ensure they wouldn't have a problem.

On the other hand... if Y2K wasn't publicized the way it was... it would have turned out to be a much bigger problem.

This is just another similar instance. As long as it's properly publicized and everybody does what's required... it too will blow off as just another scare.

But if people don't take action properly... then it could cause problems... but it's not going to be the end of the world... just a lot of confusion, inability to connect, late transfers, incorrect calendars... a few problems here and there!

But it could cause routers to drop all packets as having been expired causing a virtual Denial of Service with the inability to access anywhere on the internet unless both users and router vendors patch properly.

FWIW

[gbalpha33]

DST

It's the usual, Congress doesn't think. Save energy? We just get up with an extra hour of darkness. Do politicians think everyone sleeps until daylight. I will be getting up at 0430 on Saturdays to make our Farmers Market. If it is daylight longer, I can work in my beehives and gardens longer, using my trusty gas guzzling tractors.

[ralfthedog]

George Bush blew up my cable box.

My HD DVR has stopped working properly after the DST patch was downloaded. It will record part of a program, then stop. Other times it will start near the end of the program.

Thank you G. W. B. Thank you congress for passing the stupid law he asked for.

[JEfromCanada]

Options for older PC operating systems

There is a program called TZEDIT.EXE which can be found in the Windows 98 Resource Kit or can be downloaded from the internet. This utility provides an easy to use interface for users to change their Time Zone rules on operating systems that are no longer supported by Microsoft; such as Windows 95, Windows 98 and Windows Me.

[ryvlad]

Frankly I can not understand why there is so much fuss about it?

Frankly I can not understand why there is so much fuss about it?


The DST only should affect the clocks and nothing more.
any program that is affected by DST was and is written so badly that it deserves to be decompiled and trashed ASAP anyway.

Just think about it....

All DTS dose is move our ACTIVE day time 1 hour forward and back not the real time.
it is an artificial time frame so we can partake an extra day light at the end of the day.
I sow comment that "well I will need to get up earlier and use some electricity in the morning instead of in the evening so where the savings?" well the savings come in the evening, because when you get up you might use some light then, but later in the day you can keep the artificial light use to a minimum longer then if you would on real time. also the DTS is not only for power savings, it also gives you more daylight
for recreation and it is good thing/


I have seen comments that DST update trashed outlook.
this is a MS fault big time. no schedule or appointment need to be adjusted for DST.

if I have a meeting @ 2:00PM in New York it is still at 2:00PM in New York DTS or not
now my clock needs to change and reflect proper time though. and all internal calculation and checks
need to use my clock and UTC clock to be correct but any appointment and entries should stay the same. nothing is changed for them. if MS have screw-up this they need to fix it ASAP.

[14reality]

the story

I guess i should be doing my homework, and getting to know about what i should be doing and not what i have already done.

You have my deepest apology, for my behavior, and it will not happen again. I know when my feelings get troubled i do not know how to cope, or i just give up. I do not know how to trust. I better learn how to trust myself, because it looks like that is all i got

[jjwood64]

Solaris DST patch issues

Last week, I applied Sun's two recommended patches on a Sun X2100 running Solaris 10 (x86). The libc patch never installed cleanly and caused damage to two link libraries, causing the OS to go down. After trying Sun tech support for an hour, I wound up restoring the OS by using the "upgrade install" to refer to the previous OS *prior* to the two patches. I followed exact directions per Sun, and there were no problems with this server prior to installing the two patches.

As a result, I am simply resorting to manually changing the time this coming Sunday because I do not have any trust in Sun's patches in this case. I'll wait until the next Solaris 10 patch cluster release to eventually install these patches, but after seeing the damage the libc patch caused, I highly recommend installing these patches in a test environment before considering putting into production. As it is, I'll take my chances by manually changing the time instead.

[aglennon]

Why not do away with DST altogether???

Why was it decided to change it at all? Is it because so many people are being affected by power outages? Does this make the situation better? The electric companies seem to be the reason for any change. How about a new, nationwide power re-structure? The outages are ridiculous, yet they triple our rates?

[bblackmoor]

abolish DST

So-called Daylight Saving Time doesn't save *anything*. It costs the USA hundreds of millions, if not billions, in lost productivity and wasted wasted-hours as people fiddle with clocks, miss appointments, correct scheduling errors, and otherwise observe this completely fatuous ritual.

It most certainly does not save electricity. This isn't the 1940s: and homes and businesses keep their lights and heat on throughout the day, regardless of the time displayed on the clock. It doesn't save lives: studies have shown that it actually costs lives as people's sleep schedules are disrupted for days, causing an increase in traffic accidents. It doesn't help farmers: farmers rise with the sun. It doesn't help children: is it better for them to be going back and forth to school in the dark in the afternoon, when people are wide awake, or in the morning, when people are still groggy from having their sleep disrupted by this foolish Daylight Saving Time? In the middle of winter, it's dark in the morning and in the evening ANYWAY! So what does so-called Daylight Saving Time "save"? NOTHING! It *costs*, and it costs us dearly.

It is time to put an end to this ridiculous ritual. Write, call, AND email your federal and state representatives (DST is a federal scheme, but states can opt out of it), and tell them to STOP PLAYING WITH THE COUNTRY'S CLOCKS!