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Advisory: Armenia will not observe daylight saving time in 2012

If you read this blog regularly, you’ll recall that Armenia proposed changes to their stand on daylight saving time…

We now have confirmed reports that similar to the move in Russia, that Armenia, Belarus and Ukraine won’t fall back but also stay permanently on summer time on October 30. (There have been some initial rumours about other countries following Russia’s lead and considering cancelling Daylight saving time too. We will also provide details on these changes as they come up and are ratified and enacted into law.)

Today we confirmed that Armenia has cancelled DST starting in 2012, as noted in this blog post advisory…

In an attempt to improve the country’s economy, the government of Armenia has cancelled Daylight Saving Time. This will result in the country staying on permanent ‘winter time’ and not moving an hour ahead on Sunday, March 25th 2012.

Since the new date published by the government is different from what was defined in the previous years, Windows-based computers will not correctly interpret the time after March 25th 2012.

Microsoft will not be issuing an update for Windows at this time to address this change. The recommendation is to move to an alternate time zone: Russian Standard Time [DisplayName: “(UTC+04:00) Moscow, St. Petersburg, Volgograd” ]

The time zone Caucasus Standard Time [DisplayName: “(UTC+04:00) Yerevan”] will be updated in the next cycle of cumulative time zone update for Windows (next planned is August 2012).

Essentially the recommendation is that customers in Armenia to move to an alternate time zone: one alternate time zone recommendation is “Russian Standard Time” DisplayName: (UTC +4:00) Moscow, St Petersburg, Volgograd) in Windows.

We don’t plan to issue a hotfix or update at this time for Windows, but plan to include and revise the native time zone for Armenia in the next release of Windows cumulative time zone updates, planned for August 2012.

We’ll continue to watch the developments and changes around the world. As noted previously, we do provide some guidance on http://www.microsoft.com/time, that in order to achieve more seamless transitions to new DST and time zones policies, Microsoft requests that governments provide the following:

  • Ample advance notice (1 year or more) of the planned change.
  • Official published confirmation of planned changes to DST or time zones.
  • Concentrated efforts on promoting the change to the affected citizens.

Tags: Microsoft, Daylight Saving Time, Daylight Savings Time, RSS,DST, Armenia

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How do I survive SXSW in Austin? By “attending” virtually

As you may know – and some may even be reading this from the great state of Texas – the South by South West (SxSW) festival kicked off in Austin.

Unlike a few of my friends, and contrary to my thoughts in 2011, I won’t be there this year. There are some great reasons to attend SXSW, I know that from many of my friends who’ve made the pilgrimage to Texas (and March can be a very nice time in Austin).

Once again, I was asked not once, not twice but a half dozen times in the last day for various restaurant or event recommendations for SXSW – which last time I compiled into some helpful hints. But I decided not to make the trek this year, and appears I’m in good company.

Of course, reading Gene Marks’ post on Forbes.com, I have to disagree with some assessments…

"For example, we sell Microsoft products. I know…they were also a sponsor at SXSW. But who are we kidding? Those guys are so…yesterday."

Really? I beg to differ. But that’s for a different post.

One of the reasons I’m not at SXSW is that, just like CES, it’s become quite large. And with so many people there covering it live (just search the Twitter hashtag #sxsw) I get much of what I want from it on line. Lots of news coverage is available (here via Bing and via Bing’s SXSW news feed) and from many prolific tweeters – you can see recent public updates on Bing.

Here’s some advice:

The 7 Best Ways To Follow #SXSW From Home via Jon Dube, Contributor at Forbes…

"More than a dozen talks will be live-streaming on the SXSW site, including LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman on Saturday morning, AOL founder Steve Case on Sunday morning and Twitter co-founder Biz Stone on Monday afternoon. You can find a complete list of the talks and links to the live streams here."

SXSW Social Viewer: Check it out here.

Jon’s SXSW DAILY, with popular SXSW stories daily. You can view the paper here and sign up to get daily updates via email.

Panels: As Jon notes, many panels aren’t streamed, but you can get live feeds from folks in the sessions on Twitter as each has its own hashtag. You can browse all of the panels and find the hashtags by clicking through to the details for each here.

Twitter feeds to follow at SXSW:

SXSW ‏ Official user of the SXSW Music, Film and Interactive Conferences and Festivals

SXSW PartyList! The Party List for #SXSW Email us: SXSWPartyList@gmail.com

@livefromsxsw – has lots of info

@CNNSXSW CNN News will be there in force with news and stories.

Jennifer over at rsvpster.com has a list of who to follow "to find out what’s going on all over Austin during (and before) South By begins is to load up your twitter feed to be sure you’re following the most South-by savvy users." Of particular interest:

@sxshhh: Our friends over at @sxshhh are creating a spreadsheet of events/parties for SXSW ’12

@SouthByFreeNoms: Real talk: I hate the term ‘noms’ for food. Real talk: despite the name, this is one of the best users to follow during SX – always on it with the free food, which comes in handy mid-day Thursday when you just want a free taco.

Following your favorite blogs/venues always helps with keeping up with chaos. Our favorites: @MohawkAustin, @BeautyBarAustin, @CheerUpCharlies.

 

Tags: articles, what I read, blogs, SXSW, Microsoft, travel tips.

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It’s Time To Spring Forward An Hour in the US and Canada: Daylight Saving Time Arrives Sunday

I was reminded today that daylight saving time (aka DST) is here once again, and that you’ll change your clocks this Sunday, March 11, 2012. Much of the United States and Canada will “Spring Forward” on Sunday at 2:00AM, as noted in more than 36,900 news articles today. (That’s up about 31,000 articles and links over this time last year.)

Oh, sorry… flashback to 2007.

If you’re going to SXSW this week, please keep this change in mind. IIRC, a few devices didn’t update correctly last year.

This year, DST in much of the US and Canada begins on March 11, several weeks earlier than in years prior to 2007. In 2007, most of the US and Canada “sprang forward” a few weeks earlier than in past years in accordance with the US Department of Energy’s Energy Policy Act of 2005 that was passed into law. DST will end later than it did prior to 2007, on the first Sunday of November (that would be Sunday, Nov. 4, in 2012); more details on the new DST start and end times can be found here). This results in a new DST period that is approximately three to four weeks longer than in previous years.

The switch to daylight saving time also means the time zone suffix changes, now using Daylight Time: for example, Pacific Standard Time is now Pacific Daylight Time (aka PDT). The other time zones move to Mountain Daylight Time (MDT), Central Daylight Time (CDT), and Eastern Daylight Time (EDT).

Of course, there are a few exceptions to the DST rules. As noted, Hawaii and most parts of of Arizona don’t use DST. Hawaii not on DST I understand – it’s off the grid and who wants to worry about changing their watches on vacation? (Seriously, it does mess with small details like television programming and flight schedules from the mainland.) But Arizona? Something to do with the weather, as Chris Kline covered for the ABC affiliate in his article “Weird? Why Arizona doesn’t observe Daylight Saving Time…

“The history of daylight saving is tied to energy conservation. Switching to DST in the summer means more sunlight at night, which in turn means homes don’t have to turn on lights as early. According to the U.S. Government, that leads to energy and fuel savings.”

And Indiana. Ah, yes… Indiana. You’ll find everything you need to know about this in articles like this one for Indiana. Salon notes in their article Please end Daylight Saving Time…

“In fact, farmers generally oppose daylight saving time. In Indiana, where part of the state observes DST and part does not, farmers have opposed a move to DST.”

There are exceptions, such as the Navajo Indian Reservation in Arizona, which does observe daylight saving time. And according to entries on Wikipedia, there are a few exceptions in Canada not using DST, including a few areas (parts of British Columbia, Nunavut, Ontario and Quebec) and almost all of Saskatchewan.

C’mon, Saskatchewan…

What to do

So what should you do to make sure that your computers are ready for the change? If you use Microsoft Update on your PC at home, chances are you’re already covered. The December Cumulative Daylight Saving Time and Time Zone Update for Windows should already be installed on your PC. If you’re not sure, visit Microsoft Windows Update to check your PC and install important updates. At work, if an IT Pro (aka ‘hero’) manages your network, chances are good that the needed updates have already been installed on your computers and devices automagically.

In support of the changes to DST and time zones around the world, the December 2011 cumulative update is live on Windows Update (deployed December 13, 2011) and available at http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2633952.

Recently, I received a question similar to one I answered previously on daylight saving time and time zone updates to Windows:

“We updated our systems earlier this year for daylight saving time [the rules for the US and Canada]. Is there anything we need to do? Should we also update our systems with the last DST update?”

Generally, the answer is yes. As I noted earlier here, it depends.

If you manage servers and a host of Microsoft software, visit http://www.microsoft.com/time for more details. And visit the support web sites of any other software companies to see if you need to apply any updates – it’s not just Microsoft software that may require updates. Keep in mind that it’s not just the US and Canada that made changes to DST and time zones: we have an upcoming change in Australia and others noted on the DST and Time Zone Hot Topics page.

And remember: time is a precious thing. Never waste it.

Of interest, these top news articles for daylight saving time…

Tags: Microsoft, Daylight Saving Time, Daylight Savings Time,DST:

References to DST on Bing: 1,650,000; 5,595,000; 494,000.

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Surviving TechReady 14 in Seattle 2012: A few helpful tips and hints

Here’s a link to my post with some helpful hints on Surviving TechReady in Seattle, from 2010. Many of the links and info points are still relevant…

Going to TechReady next week in Seattle?  It seems from what I read on Twitter that we will have a number of people visiting the fair Emerald City for next week’s geek festivities.

To aid in your visit to the fair city by the Sound, I’ve posted here a few hints along the lines of my notes from Surviving CES in Las Vegas and Surviving MGX. Using that post as a template, here are a couple of resources for you – I will add to the page later as I have time.

First off, a public service announcement.

I have to agree with LyalinDotCom: remember to watch what you say online when you talk about #tr14. What I said about tweeting (remember to be thoughtful) still stands,

Head over to this post for more general information.

First, an update with couple of things you should know.

Weather? Oh, yes.  We haz plenty, so pack light and perhaps a light jacket.  Keep in mind that it’s winter in the Puget Sound area, and following our Snowpocalypse a week ago there is still a chill in the air.  As opposed to TR in the summer when it’s a lovely high 70s to low 80s, you can expect rainy, cool weather

Weather in Seattle via Bing Weather

NOW SAT SUN MON TUE WED
43°
Cloudy
°F | °C
 Showers

47° / 41°
 Rain

49° / 42°
 Showers

49° / 40°
 Rain

48° / 38°
 Rain

47° / 40°
Next 5 days
Weather Maps: Temperature · Doppler Radar · Precipitation · more (Data from AccuWeather on bing.com/weather)

A couple of quick tips…

General information. The City of Seattle has a great online online visitor’s guide with lots of helpful information, complete with virtual tours, tips on staying safe, places to eat and shop and more.

What to wear. Weather will get down into the high 30’s so bring an umbrella and a warm jacket… unless you’re Canadian or Scandinavian, then bring shorts and t-shirts. 😉

Dress in comfortable clothes and wear great, comfortable shoes.  And don’t bring the stylish shoes, go for comfort as you will be standing and walking.  A lot.  My pick: your favourite sneakers (perhaps a cool new pair of Vans), anything from Ecco, Rockport or New Balance. And see also a few travel recommendations from Colin Cowie on packing.

Also, bring a shoulder bag (a messenger bag works well) for hauling around all the schwag you’ll likely pick up and for toting your phone, mini notebook, digital camera, and other essentials: a bottle of water or juice, snack bars and fruit… oh, sorry, I mean Red Bull and Jolt, family sized Hershey’s and a package of gummies.

Getting from the airport to anywhere: A great resource is available at the official Seattle visitor’s travel page, with a special money-saving nod to the new Link Light Rail which will get you to and from SeaTac airport in comfort and high-tech style, in about 35 minutes for under $3 a ride. As the site notes, it’s the best deal in town. You may still have a trek to your hotel, but likely it won’t be far from one of the light rail stops.

A taxi ride will save you a few minutes but run you a little more, costing between $35-40, closer to $50 if you’re staying in Bellevue (closer to Microsoft main campus and our offices in dowwntown Bellevue). If you decide to take a cab, pair up (or three or four) with folks going to the same hotel and split the taxi fare.

Getting a taxi at SeaTac is pretty easy – there are ususally plenty of taxis in the official queue. Please don’t take an unlicensed cab: we want you to get to the event safe and sound!. .

Have anything to add? LMK in the comments.

For now, here are a couple of additional links:

http://www.seattlemag.com/ and http://www.seattlemet.com/ – Both online versions of these Seattle magazines are great resources for where to eat, what to see and where to go when in Seattle. SeattleMet has a calendar right on their home page of what to do in the city.

Tags: Microsoft, Seattle, Bellevue, TechReady, travel tips.

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Advisory: Windows Cumulative Update for Samoa, as they skip Friday and change their time zone

As I noted in a prior post, Samoa will move their time zone this week, essentially traveling to the future…

When is December 30th not December 30th?

When it’s 2011 in Samoa.

[rimshot]

As you may have read, Samoa has decided to move ahead in time and join neighbors and trading partners on the western side of the International Date line (like Australia and New Zealand). In doing so, Samoa will move from December 29th directly to December 31st this year. As Alan Boyle wrote this week in his post on MSN… 

“Just this once, Samoa is making Dec. 30 disappear.

“It’s the key step in the Pacific island nation’s plan to move from the eastern to the western side of the International Date Line and mesh its work week with two of its primary trading partners, New Zealand and Australia. The New Zealand territory of Tokelau is making the switch as well.

“In doing business with New Zealand and Australia, we’re losing out on two working days a week,” Stuff.co.nz quoted Samoan Prime Minister Tuila’epa Sailele as saying. “While it’s Friday here, it’s Saturday in New Zealand, and when we’re at church Sunday, they’re already conducting business in Sydney and Brisbane.”

“Samoa will go directly from 11:59 p.m. Thursday, through midnight to 12:01 a.m. Saturday.

“It hasn’t been controversial,” the editor of the Samoa Observer, Mata’afa Lesa, told me today. (Yes, definitely still today.) “People are realizing when they sleep tomorrow night, they’ll wake up on Saturday.”

Not contraversial? I’m not so sure, but that’s not a matter for this post. Just ask people who will miss a birthday (perhaps they won’t age a year?) or a special anniversary.

Technical Changes

The change will be a move from from UTC -11:00 to UTC+13:00, and a change in the display name for UTC +13:00 time zone (Nuku’alofa, Samoa). So, on the next clock tick after Dec 29, 2011 at 23:59:59, Samoa’s UTC offset becomes UTC +13:00. And the next clock tick will be is Dec 31, 2011 00:00:000. Cartographers will have some challenges dealing with all the updates to maps, moving the International Date Line to 171 degrees longitude west of Greenwich.

Associated challenges

There are also other technical challenges as I called out last year… as this change again occurs at midnite, but this time with good reason…

Here’s my regular advice for governments: in support of these types of changes, we provide guidance and Microsoft’s Policy in Response to DST/TZ Requests. It’s important for countries and territories to work towards seamless transitions to new DST and time zones policies, providing ample advance notice (of a year or more) with published confirmation of planned changes.

In addition – and this is important – we suggest that entities considering moves to DST implement changes at the next clock tick after 01:59:59 rather than at 00:00:00. Making the change at midnight can impact daily scheduled system events that sometimes occur at 12:00 midnite, such as back ups, data pulls or other automated tasks.

But I imagine that in Samoa’s case with this change, it would have been a greater challenge to have December 30th last only a few hours. Noting the article cites “there were 767 births and 43 marriages registered” on December 30th, I sympathize for the loss of a special day.

What’s Microsoft doing about this change?

Microsoft is aware of the upcoming change in time zone and shift in date for Samoa, and we’re looking at ways to minimize the impact this change has on our customers and partners. As with other changes to daylight saving time and time zones (like the recent change in Russia, noted here), this requires an update to the OS.

So users should look at the December 2011 cumulative time zone update for Windows operating systems avilable at http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2633952.

In addition to the change to the UTC offset for Samoa standard time from (UTC-11) to (UTC+13) — which will change the time zone’s display name to “(UTC+13:00) Samoa” — we also made additional changes since the last semi-annual Windows cumulative time zone update (back in August):

  • Kaliningrad Standard Time:
    As previously announced in Microsoft Knowledge Base article 2625508, Belarus has decided to discontinue daylight saving time from 2011 and stay on permanent “summer time.” That article suggested that users move to a “workaround time” of Kaliningrad standard time. This windows update makes the move permanent by including Minsk in the display name for Kaliningrad standard time. The new display name for Kaliningrad standard time is “(UTC+03:00) Kaliningrad, Minsk.”
  • E.Europe Standard Time:
    The display name for this time zone has been updated to “(UTC+2:00) Nicosia.”
  • Bahia Standard Time [Display Name “(UTC-3:00) Salvador”]:
    A new windows time zone has been created for the Brazilian state of Bahia.
  • Fiji Standard Time [Display Name “(UTC+12:00) Fiji”]:
    Sets the 2012 DST start date to occur on the fourth Sunday of January.

Most applications and services reference the underlying Windows OS for their TZ and DST rules, with some exceptions. This change in Samoa has the potential for worldwide impacts on time references for multinational customers. Updates will be important not only for users in Samoa but for connected systems around the world, particularly Samoa’s closest partners in the region. Additional information is also available on our official Daylight Saving Time Help and Support Centre at http://www.microsoft.com/time.

So happy new year! Take comfort that at least Samoa decided not to skip that holiday. 😉

 

Tags: Microsoft, Daylight Saving Time, Daylight Savings Time, RSS, DST, Samoa

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