Daylight Savings Time 2007
According to the Energy Policy Act of 2005 the calculations computers make to adjust the Windows clock for Daylight Savings Time are now in error. Those parts of the world that do not observe Daylight Savings Time should be concerned, but those of us who still fall under the changes must make note and begin changes promptly.
Microsoft has a webpage detailing what responses they have taken and outlining what still needs to be done to get their various flavors of the Windows Operating System compliant with the new guidelines.
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/timezone/dst2007.mspx
These changes are not quite on the level of Y2K, but some computers will be profoundly affected if not patched properly. For a detailed treatment of this important change in computer networks see the excellent writeup by Stephen Tong and Joseph Williams in COMPUTER.ORG.
While the article details what is going to happen and the possible consequences of not patching computer systems, some things to keep in mind for your home devices like cell phone that automatically sets itself from the cell tower. I can not change my time and date so if it is wrong I am stuck. Same with paging devices and even some Blackberry's.
Look for things to be a bit more hairy than Y2K since the doomsayers of Y2K were out in full force for a couple of years before the millennium actually hit. This change, mandated by the whim of the government, has come in low under many IT Department's radar and might just be a much bigger hit to local and regional economies than all the investment made before Y2K.
Filed under: Announcements, Computer, Desktops, Legal, Linux, Notebooks, PDAs, Software, Web 2.0, Windows
[...] Daylight Savings Time 2007 According to the Energy Policy Act of 2005 the calculations computers make to adjust the Windows clock for Daylight Savings. (continues) [...]
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