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Make sure you “Fall Back” next week: Windows Mobile and Daylight Saving Time

Yesterday, October 28th, would have been the timeframe for the US Daylight Savings Time changeover under prior rules.  The new rules call for the US and Canadian DST “Fall Back” to occur in the early morning of Sunday, November 4. 

A recent update was posted to our DST & TZ hot topics page which details impacts to some users of certain Windows Mobile devices, who experienced an early changeover.   A copy of that posting is found below – please refer to the information on the page and contact your mobile operator’s customer support line if you experience any difficulties. 

Windows Mobile Devices

In observance of the various Daylight Saving Time (DST) and time zone changes, Microsoft has been working closely with customers, partners and others in the industry to help ensure a smooth and seamless transition.  Although updates have been made available for mobile devices running Windows Mobile software, some end users may not have the information needed or followed the steps necessary to apply those patches.  The correct end to DST for 2007 in North America is November 4th. 

Mobile devices for users who did not update may have experienced the “Fall Back” in North America on October 28th, as some user’s mobile devices and their calendars may be incorrectly early by one hour for the following week if the appropriate updates are not applied. Microsoft recommendations that those customers needing to update should follow the instructions on http://www.microsoft.com/windowsmobile/daylightsaving/default.mspx for updating their devices.

Generally it seems that some new devices may not have the latest update for the 2007 DST and TZ rules.  My wife has a Cingular (now AT&T) 8525 Pocket PC Phone that she received late this summer as a replacement for a unit still under warranty, and the phone came loaded with the fix already installed.

For the latest news and customer guidance, please visit Microsoft’s Hot Topics web page at http://www.microsoft.com/time.

Tags: Microsoft, Daylight Saving Time, Daylight Savings Time, DST, Windows Mobile, Cingular 8525. 4,020,000; 10,600,000; 649,000+

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Windows Hotfix Update now available for new Daylight Saving Time changes in Brazil

To be posted the Microsoft Daylight Saving Time & Time Zone Hot Topics page at http://support.microsoft.com/gp/dst_hottopics…

Brazil 2007-2008 Daylight Saving changes: The government of Brazil announced a change on September 20, 2007, in the observance of daylight saving time in the country. The new time change will take place in Brazil on October 14th (three weeks earlier than in 2006) when clocks should move one hour forward at midnight (between Saturday and Sunday). On February 17, 2008, Brazil will move clocks one hour at midnight (again, between Saturday and Sunday), one week earlier than in 2006.

Microsoft has provided a hotfix update for customers requiring an update for this time change: for more information and to obtain the hotfix, please see Microsoft Knowledge Base article 943000.

Manual remediation has been provided for Windows as noted in KB article 914387, updated with the proper registry keys to account for the changes in Brazil; “Dynamic DST” keys are included allowing calendar rebasing with the Outlook Time Zone Data Update Tool (TZDUT).

Tags: Microsoft, Daylight Saving Time, Daylight Savings Time, DST, Time Zones, Brazil. 3,671,906; 10,511,790; 678,000+

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Technical “Deep-Dive” LiveMeeting today on DST and Time Zones

In about an hour’s time, we’ll host a Technical “Deep-Dive” Webcast…

Monday, September 24, 2007 at 2:00pm Pacific

This LiveMeeting Webcast will be hosted by members of our Microsoft DST Team (Joel, Steve, me and a cast of many on the Question Manager), to provide a technical overview of resources available to help prepare Microsoft products for the change to Daylight Saving Time and time zones around the world. It will cover the core scenarios where the Outlook and Exchange update tools should be used, in addition to helpful links to patches and other information relative to other Microsoft products affected by the DST changes.

Click here just before 2PM PAC today: https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/lmevents/join?id=msft092407sa&role=attend&pw=ATN783

 

Available now: Webcast Live Meeting on-demand from September 14, 2007…

An overview of DST, Microsoft resources, impacted products, updates and tools. Click this link to view this web cast now.  Click here to watch this recorded LiveMeeting.

Tags: Microsoft, Daylight Saving Time, Daylight Savings Time, DST, Time Zones, Venezuela. 629,596; 907,942; 1,750,000+

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Venezuela will move clocks in December, 2007… and you can test the change today in Windows

Navarrese Héctor, Minister of Science and Technology in Venezuela, announced that the “change to Venezuelan daylight saving time requires coordinations with diverse institutions and is what we are doing.” (See this link on Windows Live Translator for an article.)

Translation: institutions such as banks need a little more time to make the change. The minister said that Venezuelans will move the clock back a half an hour from 12:00 on the night of the day it goes into effect, which they now project will be December 31, 2007.

As noted, Microsoft is supporting this change today with a hotfix for Windows in KB 938977. This update for the Windows operating system is available to allow customers and partners to test and implement the new time zone for Caracas, Venezuela, prior to the official move to the new time zone in the region. This update makes a change to your Windows operating system by installing a new time zone for Caracas, Venezuela. The name of the new time zone is Venezuela Standard Time, and the display name for this time zone is (GMT -04:30) Caracas.

Microsoft recommends that customers downloading this update should maintain their current time zone settings and confirm the start date of the time zone change in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela before using the new time zone. End users may install this update and the resulting new time zone may remain on the time zone with a display name of (GMT-04:00) La Paz, also known as SA Western Standard Time, until manually making a transition to Venezuela Standard Time.

Installing and using this new time zone prior to the official time zone change will impact the date and time on your computer (see below).

For more information about how to manually change your time zone, please see the following:

The KB is now live and you can request the hotfix by going to http://support.microsoft.com/gp/CUHotFix_LandingPage_Request.

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Venezuela announces a delay in their time zone move… again

And you thought it was a slow news day on the time zone front…


Yes, more on Venezuela’s new time zone.

First it was announced that Venezuela would change their time zone by 30 minutes, by turning their clocks back on January 1, 2008… then September 17… and more recently September 24th.

Now Reuters reports today that there’s been confusion in Venezuela with the announced time change… so much so that the government officials behind the change aren’t sure whether to spring forward or fall back.


President Hugo Chavez wants Venezuelan clocks turned back half an hour and he wants it done in record time — next Monday.

“I don’t care if they call me crazy, the new time will go ahead, let them call me whatever they want,” Chavez said on his weekly TV show. “I’m not to blame. I received a recommendation and said I liked the idea.”

Chavez himself has not had time to get to grips with the practicalities of the clock shift.

In his live show, he talked with his brother, the education minister, so that the two men could explain the measure. But they mistakenly told Venezuelans to move their clocks forward at midnight on Sunday, when the policy is to move them back.


Wait: that’s not all.

We have reports tonight that the government may delay the half-hour move all together until October (see this link and translation ) as they…


“… need to notify the international organizations such as the Bureau the International of Weights and Measures and the Bureau the International of the Measurement of the Time, located in France.



“It will take at least two to three weeks for the change to take shape. The President of the Republic (Hugo Chavez) will make the official announcement of when [people] will have to move their clocks by half an hour…

“The change of the time zone of Venezuela will take shape within two or three weeks… according to vice-minister of Planning of the Ministry of the Popular Power for Science and Tecnología, Luis Marcano González.”


We are confirming this with our offices in the region.

For now, we are holding the down level hotfix packages, as noted in KB 938977 which has been held back for the moment. As soon as we receive approval from our offices in the region, we will repost the KB and the packages will be available.

Update: The KB is now live and you can request the hotfix by going to http://support.microsoft.com/gp/CUHotFix_LandingPage_Request.

Tags: Microsoft, Daylight Saving Time, Daylight Savings Time, DST, Time Zones, Venezuela. 629,596; 907,942; 1,750,000+