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Y2K déjà vu: Daylight saving creates pain for computers

GRANT BUCKLER

From Thursday's Globe and Mail

Latest comment posted at 8:40 AM EDT 23/10/06

Daylight saving creates pain for computers ...Read the full article

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  1. Stude Ham from Outremont, Canada writes: SWITCHING TO DST IN THIS ERA IS AN ACT OF GROSS COLLECTIVE STUPIDITY. WE DON'T NEED THIS TIME CHANGE. WE DON'T NEED TO BE SENT INTO THE DEPRESSING MORNING DARKNESSES FORCED ON US BY THIS STUPIDLY ARBITRARY RELIC OF A BYGONE ERA WHEN THE MOST ADVANCED KITCHEN GADGET WAS THE TWO SLICED ELECTRIC TOASTER.
  2. Kevin Dooley from Canada writes: As annoying as this change to the daylight savings time rules is, it's more annoying to realize the rationale behind it: this is the cornerstone of Bush's energy conservation plan - a couple extra weeks of daylight savings time! We can save more energy across North America by simply replacing lightbulbs with lower wattage versions than by this hairbrained scheme.
  3. Proud Canadian from Canada writes: We should all run out and buy new computers the sky is fallilng. Been there, done that 6 years ago.
  4. sudhir jain from Canada writes: Another proof that the computers cause more problems than they solve and cost more money than they save. Our civilization will end one day when one of the key computer chips catches cold.
  5. chris waite from Melbourne, Australia writes: How archaic! Why can't North America have a universal continent-wide electronic time signal which all electronic devices can relate to for automatic time/date updates? Just like in Europe. Our (European-made) airconditiong thermostat has this facility to change the clock settings for daylight saving but we can't use it because this facility doesn't exist in the new world. CW
  6. Erik Richards from Winnipeg, MB, writes: 'Unless they are adjusted, next spring those machines will be three weeks behind the rest of the country.' Unless I misunderstand the importance of this problem, isn't this statement incorrect? Shouldn't it be 'Unless they are adjusted, next spring those machines will be one hour behind the rest of the country for three weeks'? A little point I suppose, particularly considering no one in the IT world will run out and act simply because they read a G&M article, but yet one more example of sloppy proofing.
  7. Blair Kelly from Burlington, Canada writes: In my oppinion, this is a relavant article, since there are _some_ devices and programs that will require updating; but these are few and far between. Any time-sensitive delivery systems run by organizations such as Purolator or UPS run on software and devices that will update themselves automatically. Like the Y2K problem (which didn't actually exist), this issue could ignored, and no one would be the wiser.
  8. Carlos Jose from Happytown, Canada writes: This is nothing but a tempest in a teapot. Did anything severe happen with Y2K? No. This poses an even smaller risk, almost negligible, and is as easily remedied as setting your computer's clock - really not that difficult, people. I'm certainly not worried about this, and I don't think anyone else should be either.
  9. K Bakatare from Toronto, Canada writes: This doesn't affect me as I am on beat time.
  10. Matt Goulet from Winnipeg, Canada writes: sudhir jain from Canada writes: Another proof that the computers cause more problems than they solve and cost more money than they save. - Yes Chickenlittle, the sky IS falling.
  11. Chris Hay from Regina, Canada writes: Ahh, the joy of living in a province that does not recognize daylight savings time in the first place! Surely in today's world there are far more advanced and logical methods (even 'intensity based' ones!) to saving energy more efficiently than fiddling with time pieces for an hour twice a year.
  12. Proud Canadian from Metropolis, Canada writes: Personally I would like us to go DST and not go off. I prefer extra daylight after a days work. It would still be daylight for the drive home and not dark for both to and from work in the depths of winter as now.
  13. Barrie Ward from Canada writes: I find the wasted effort of these discussions another reason why living in Saskatchewan is a blessing. We never 'Play' with our clocks and even the mighty behemoth Microsoft acknowledges our common sense in its software rollouts. Down with all 'clock-fiddling' let us get about our lives without having to waste productivity time by having to adjust devices twice a year -- Get out there and make hay while the sun shines and leave that clock alone!
  14. sudhir jain from Canada writes: Geek in Winnipeg: Take your eyes off your screen and look out of the window. What do you see?
  15. Normand LaBine from Winnipeg, Canada writes: And all the BlueTooth appliances? Fridges, Freezers, Stoves? These high-end toys offer all kinds of 'Ease Of Use' features that depend on time precision. Ah, politicians. Oh well, change is the only constant. Pope Gregory and Julius Caesar tweaked calendars, now Bush wants his name embedded in the history books. Will it be The Georgrian Chronology or Bushwhacker Time?
  16. D M from Toronto, Canada writes: Okay, neither the article nor any poster so far have pointed out that a computer's time can be manually set. In fact, does anyone remember prior to Windows 95 - you had to do it yourself? There are very few situations where an individual cannot change the time manually (that is very few situations where it is that time sensitive). For an organization running Win 2k, A room full of servers can be changed in less than an hour. How much of a problem is that going to cause at midnight Saturday night? In most cases it's not. Then simply turn off automatic daylight savings time adjustment so it does not adjust the time again in three weeks. For systems that are that time sensitive - they should already have the capability or be running on a newer operating system.
  17. Jason Fournier from Acton, Canada writes: Ah, you smug Saskatchewan residents make me laugh. What do you expect from people from such a 'square' province? Come on out to a province or territory with some artistic appeal, some *shape*, some timeshifting, some je ne sais quoi! Just kidding -- and yes, I realise that Saskatchewan is rectangular rather than square, but I couldn't resist . . .
  18. Keith Baker from Belfountain, Canada writes: I have to reset my antique wind-up clocks twice a year, so what's so different about having to do the computerized ones as well? Heaven forbid that we should actually have to do things manually every now and then!
  19. Matt Goulet from Winnipeg, Canada writes: sudhir jain from Canada - I see daylight being saved. What do YOU see?
  20. Jimmy K from Toronto, Canada writes: …. and just like Y2K, this will be much ado about nothing. Changing the time on complex supply chain applications isn’t as simple as double clicking your windows tray and rolling forwards/backwards one hour, but only marginally so.
  21. Norm Jom from Petawawa, Canada writes: Changing the dates for daylight savings time was stupidity to begin with, in Canada it makes even less sense. In fact many have figured it will actually cost more. Of course we only followed suit to match our times with the US's. Hardly a nightmare for any individual to deal with though, except for a few weeks you won't be able to use the auto update unless you have service pack 2 for XP systems. But there is no savings to be had by doing this change in the first place.
  22. Lyn Alg from Canada writes: Here we go again. When will intelligent people wake up to the scam that is being perpetrated, yet again, on technologically illiterate people, (which is most of us). Like the Y2K 'scam scare' that never materialize, which most of us knew well in advance, once again, the fraud artists are at it to frisk the population of millions of dollars. Anyone dumb enough to be taken advantage of, deserves it! MORE POWER TO THE SCAMMERS.
  23. Blair Langmuir from W'loo, Canada writes: Does no one else remember back in the 1970's when the US tried to 'save energy' by playing full-time DST?? It was soon found that (a) it did NOT save any energy, and (b) more accidents happened in the morning gloom. Then they gave up and switched back to the original system. What a waste. And now we do it all over again because politicians never learn.
  24. Anthony B from Sydney, NS, Canada writes: I never understood the crazy practice of running around changing all the clocks twice a year to comply with some artificially-determined time on an arbitrary date. Why don't we just adjust our work schedules twice a year and stop tinkering with time. Has anyone ever calculated the number of hours wasted to make all these changes? And what happens to all that daylight we 'save?' Is it stored in a bank somewhere? (Just kidding)
  25. R B from Canada writes: It's amusing to constantly hear the rantings of those who claim the whole Y2K thing was a scam. Yes, there were scammers out there trying to cash in on Y2K, but for those of us in the IT world, Y2K was a legitimate concern that required a lot of work to correct or prevent problems. As an airline IT worker, Y2K first became an issue for me personally on Jan 1, 1990 when 10-year passport holders suddenly found our systems told them that their passports had expired in 1900. A 'trivial' problem perhaps, but just a small example of the countless systems we had to fix. This DST change will be an issue for airlines, but I dare say we'll get the work done to cope with it (just like we have to cope with certain South American countries changing between standard and daylight-savings time at a whim, sometimes several times a year). And if you folks in Saskatchewan think you're immune to DST, that may be so if all you do is fly between Regina and Saskatoon, but certainly not if you're in any way involved with the 'outside' world.
  26. Apu Nahasapeemapetilon from Vancouver, Canada writes: Normand in Winnipeg; do you blame everything in the world on Bush? So, when you become constipated, is that Bush's fault as well?
  27. Apu Nahasapeemapetilon from Vancouver, Canada writes: Saskatchewan isn't the only part of Canada on standard time. The Peace region of BC (NE BC) remains on standard time year round as well.
  28. Dennis L from Gatineau, QC, Canada writes: Very few are now working in the factories without lights, needing more sunlight. Time to move permanently to DST, and make changing clocks the archaic habitude that it is. In dead winter, I leave the house in the dark, and return in the dark, so no difference here. Any politicians listening?
  29. Bryce Richards from Calgary, Canada writes: Its' a certainty that all the major OS manufactures will issue an update for resetting of daylight savings time before it becomes a problem. Why is it that people whine and pine about about so many insignificant things. At one time not very long ago in the scheme of things people thought that daylight savings time would affect the cows. Get a Life !
  30. yukio yano from Saskatoon, Canada writes: Saskatchewan stays on Standard Time year-round !!. NOT TRUE Reality is Saskatchewan is on Permanent Daylight Saving Time. Solar High Noon occurs at 1:00 PM, 365 days of the year. The real question is when will the rest of world stop the nonsense of reverting to Standard time for 4 or 5 months of the year ? For what purpose ? To syncronize with everyone else, who switch ? It does not make much sense. We no longer require High Noon to co-incide with 'Solar High Noon' for most of the year. So why not leave it , that way, for 365 days of the year. Yukio YANO
  31. rdr rdr from London, Canada writes: ' ...and just like Y2K, this will be much ado about nothing.'

    ...............Actually, millions of dollars were spent on computer upgrades to PREVENT problems on Y2K. Revsionists like to forget that fact.
  32. sudhir jain from Canada writes: Double geek from Winnipeg: Are you sure the reflection on the window from your screen is not hurting your eyes?
  33. Dr. Winston O'Boogie from kdub, Canada writes: On the Western side of each time zone we’ll see an increase in suicides, and an increase of young children dying in accidents.
  34. Steeve McCauley from Montreal, writes: Erm, updating a single computer to properly change local time is a very simple update, compared to what was involved with y2k which potentially affected every (badly) written piece of software out there. Updates to Windoze, MacOSX and the various linux distributions will be sufficient to repair the vast majority of computers in Canada and the US. You do apply your updates regularly, right?
  35. Norm Jom from Petawawa, Canada writes: #25 correctly points out there were numerous issues to deal with for Y2K, plenty of older computers had to be replaced or upgraded if they were critical systems. Many of us had to make changes to some old COBOL financial programs to allow them to carry over properly, for the casual user it didn't matter much. But there were a lot of things those of us who were working in IT had to do on time, there also was a lot of nonsense and many companies shouting doom and gloom where there wasn't any. Most in IT recognized that and avoided those folks though. On the other hand many managers cashed in on the whole thing to upgrade where it wasn't needed and to get government rebates where they weren't needed. There were a lot of people who didn't pay attention and had quite the cleanup after as well, especially with large databases that were using 2 character dates. Daylight savings time isn't anywhere near that kind of threat, but it does pose a challenge for some time dependant programs that will require new lines of code to deal with it. Still it's a silly decision to do this as there is very little benifit, they should have left it as it was especially here in Canada where there is virtually no benifit.
  36. chris waite from Australia writes: Of All man's (and woman's) inventions daylight saving must be among the best. At least we have a few hours of daylight left over after work to enjoy outside life with the family.
  37. Mike Bellows from Canada writes: Remember all those hysterical posters and other experts who were obsessed with Y2K a few years ago. How many people actually had to work New Year's Eve believing they were doing something useful. What a joke . Reminds me of all those conspiracy theorists and whiners always giving their expert opinions about how to solve the problem in Afghanistan ( quitting ). Please, please don't start promoting the disasterous consequences of time changing............please.
  38. Give Your Head A Shake from Southern Ontario, Canada writes: Calm down folks. Just double click on the little clock icon at the bottom right hand corner of the screen, and change it back yourselves! Wasn't that easy! Duh! Why are we wasting valuable space with this a$$inine discussion. Get real.
  39. Richard Ball from Charlottetown PEI, Canada writes: If you thought turning over from 1999 to 2000 was fun, wait until we move to a 5-digit year. START PLANNING FOR Y10K NOW!!!!
  40. Richard Ball from Charlottetown PEI, Canada writes: #38 -- there's only one $ in the word a$inine!
  41. emilio D from Vancouver, Canada writes: As long as I don't see the Y2K guru, Ed Yardani again on TV preaching dooms day scenario then everything will turn out A-okay. Just send a reminder to the maintenance department to change the time or do it manually. No big deal.
  42. Cathy Reed from Toronto, Canada writes: Well now. Here is another huge money-making opportunity.
  43. somegal from Ontario from Canada writes: I wish we would stay with daylight savings time year round. When I was a kid, I hated never being able to play outside in the winter because it was always dark at 4:30. If we were on DST, it would be dark at 5:30 instead so I would have gotten an hour. (and I lived out in the country, so dark was DARK) Oh and as for computers... Don't worry. You can turn off the automatic time setting, or you can turn on network time (on Macs, not sure about Windows), or you can, gasp, change the time yourself. I don't expect any problems beyond the usual ones that happen every year. I once got out of a parking ticket because they forgot to change their clocks.
  44. Matt Goulet from Winnipeg, Canada writes: sudhir jain from Canada : thanks for your concern, but my screen is angled such that there is no glare on my window. But even if there were, I'm not sure how a glare from a computer monitor could hurt my eyes... Yet another reason why Daylight Saving Time makes good sense!
  45. John Akermanis from AuroraAurora, Canada writes: This is really a non-issue, I don't understand the big deal. Who cares what Microsoft will do or patch ... end of the day, just change the time manually if you have to. This just sounds like someone's idea to panic people and scam more $$$ from those who panic.

    Notice however, Microsoft will only fix XP SP2, Win2K3 and of course, let's spend money and get Vista whch will already have this taken care of ... nice try.
  46. Brent Pistun from Canada writes: Actually, it is a huge issue in many computerized enterprises. In a typical Windows network, a user can not even log on to the computer if the clock is off by more than 5 minutes compared to the authenticating server.
    I manage a network in Eastern Europe (and Asia), and the automatic daylight savings time set by the Microsoft doesn't function properly - it is a major disruption to operations and it is difficult to fix using the published solution from Microsoft.

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