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Implications of Proposed Changes to Daylight Saving Time in the United States

This past week, I’ve contacted and spoken with several legislators on the plethora of proposed changes to use of daylight saving time around the States. I even had a call from my friend, Rich Kaplan, the new CEO over at the Microsoft Alumni Network, reminiscing over a few of these recent moves. The efforts fall under two main proposals: to move their state to perpetual daylight saving time, as is the case in Florida, Mississippi (died in committee) and New Mexico*; or, to move to permanent standard time, as proposed in Alaska, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas, Utah** and Washington. (I recently heard that the bill to adopt daylight saving time in Arizona has been held up by the House leadership, effectively dead in committee.) I’m not sure what will happen in Florida and New Mexico, given that the United Sates Code (15 U.S.C. §6(IX)(260-7)) stipulates that states shall either implement the semiannual daylight saving time changes or remain on standard time throughout the year.

Asked what I worry about this now, I recalled Winston Churchill’s quote:

“Let our advance worrying become advance thinking and planning.”

I appreciate that the legislators in several states have thoughtfully called for such changes to take effect in 2017 or later (2021, in Oregon). But a few, like Texas and Washington, would have the changes as early as fall of 2015. Without adequate time to react, such changes can be challenging for individuals to manage and for companies to support. Not a very united effort in the States as a whole.

That’s why Microsoft has recommended (via the tab “Microsoft Policy in Response to DST/TZ Requests” in the left nav of the page) that governments take at least one year from the time the proposals are enacted into law for the change to occur. As an example, I look to the timeline provided in the Energy Policy Act of 2005, outlining sweeping changes to daylight saving time in the United States, that allowed for nearly a year and a half before the change was implemented.

But just as important as the time needed to implement these changes, also consider the technical implications of moving to permanent daylight saving time rather than moving solely to standard time.

imageAs noted in my last post, a few states have proposed to move to year-round standard time and drop daylight saving altogether, a fairly straight forward approach. Given that many devices (PCs, phones, tablets and services) allow you to select whether or not products use a daylight saving time offset, shifting the device between daylight saving and standard time twice a year is fairly simple, and turning off the automated change is quite simple. In Windows, you may check the option for the device to “Automatically adjust clock for Daylight Saving Time” if your time zone observes daylight saving time and you want your computer’s clock to be adjusted automatically when daylight saving time changes. (In the States, that’s on March 8, 2015.)

But moving to permanent daylight saving time may not be easily implemented on devices that are no longer supported and don’t receive updated rules: this includes computers, mobile phones, embedded devices, connected systems and services. For instance, older operating systems that are out of support (such as the venerable Windows XP) no longer receive updates which include the updated set of worldwide time zones and daylight saving offsets.

More information than you’ll care to remember is available in KB 914387, How to configure daylight saving time for Microsoft Windows operating systems.

 

* – an added twist: New Mexico, today in the Mountain time zone, would move in the current proposed legislation to the central time zone and be known as “mountain daylight savings time.”

** – Feb 9, 2015: Latest reports indicate Senate Resolution 1 died in committee.

 

Also available via http://bit.ly/DSTtech

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Oregon may repeal daylight saving time… in 2021

Regular readers of this blog and familiar with the efforts Microsoft has put forward in working with many in the industry to achieve more seamless transitions on new DST, time zone and related policies. Recently, I read Oregon Senator Kim Thatcher’s proposed bill (SB99) would repeal daylight saving time in the state. At a time when other states have similarly proposed changes to their time zone and observance of DST (a couple of notable examples include a proposal in Utah to drop daylight saving time and one in New Mexico to observe daylight saving time throughout the year) this one from Sen. Thatcher is quite refreshing:

The Oregon law would not take effect until January of 2021. Plenty of time to get the word out on the change.

A change in a state’s time zone and observance of DST would have national and worldwide impacts on time references for interstate and international commerce. Each year there are many changes to daylight saving time and shifts in time zones around the world, some of which are late-breaking. Without adequate time to react, such changes can be challenging for individuals to manage and for companies to support. (You may recall when Venezuela erratically and abruptly moved to a new time zone shifting to -4:30h UTC.)

There are a few key things we recommend is for governments to provide…

  1. Ample advance notice (1 year or more) of the planned change, from the time it is enacted into law to the time of the change (as provided in the Energy Policy Act of 2005),
  2. Official, published confirmation of planned changes to DST or time zones on governmental websites and in official publications, and
  3. Concentrated promotional efforts communicating the change to affected residents and citizens.

Even better, Sen. Thatcher stipulated that this proposal would be put to a vote “of the people for their approval or rejection at the next regular general election held throughout this state.”

Brava, Senator. Brava.

Also available at http://bit.ly/OregonDST

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Ready to Spring Forward and lose some sleep? Daylight Saving Time 2013 Arrives Sunday

First off: the first rule of Daylight Saving Time is that there is no Daylight Saving Time (in Hawaii or a few parts of North America). The Second rule of Daylight Saving Time is that there is only one “S” in the term “Daylight Savings Time.”

Yes, that’s right: daylight saving time (aka DST) is here once again, which means it’s time to change your clocks this Sunday, March 10, 2013. As we have being doing since I can remember, and was fused into my soul for six months spanning 2006-2007, much of the United States and Canada will “Spring Forward” on Sunday at 2:00AM, as noted in plenty of news articles today.

Oh, sorry… flashback to 2007.

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

Here’s the public service announcement:

This year, DST in much of the US and Canada begins on March 10, 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). Please note: there will be a quiz later, so commit these to memory.

(As my good friends in Windows noted, Chile joins the DST confusion with the late-breaking news that they will extends their own DST this year, now ending on April 27, 2013 and starting again on September 7, 2013.)

For more about this semi annual change, see National Geographic’s post on “When Does It Start and Why?”

“In recent years several studies have suggested that daylight saving time doesn’t actually save energy—and might even result in a net loss.

“Environmental economist Hendrik Wolff, of the University of Washington, co-authored a paper that studied Australian power-use data when parts of the country extended daylight saving time for the 2000 Sydney Olympics and others did not. The researchers found that the practice reduced lighting and electricity consumption in the evening but increased energy use in the now dark mornings-wiping out the evening gains.”

As NatGeo notes, 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 2012 cumulative update is live on Windows Update (deployed December 13, 2011) and available at http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2779562.

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.

If you don’t want to just live with it, as the New York Time notes, there’s even a way you can change the world: vote to eliminate Daylight Saving Time in the US here:

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

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Microsoft Windows December 2012 Updates for Daylight Saving Time and Time Zones

The latest cumulative update for supported Microsoft’s Windows operating systems addressing daylight saving time and time zone changes is now available on the Microsoft Download Center. This update supersedes and replaces older updates released previously as noted in the full Knowledge Base article, namely KB 2756822 released in October. All additional time zone changes released as hotfixes after the update 2756822 are incorporated into this update.

It contains the following changes:

  • Bahia Standard Time: Starting in 2012, Bahia Standard Time will no longer have DST.
  • Azores Standard Time: Changes reflect the end of DST on October 28, 2012 for Azores Standard Time. These changes were released as KB2769756.  This update includes the changes for DST for Azores Standard Time in Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012. Additionally, this update includes the changes found in KB2769756. The new rules for DST for 2013 and onwards were released as part the October 2012 cumulative time zone update in KB2756822.
  • Fiji Standard Time: The government of Fiji has announced new DST rules for 2012 through 2013. DST starts at 2:00 A.M. on Sunday October 21, 2012 and ends at 3:00 A.M. on Sunday January 20, 2013. This update applies to Windows 8, Windows Server 2012, Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2 and down. Additionally, the changes that are included in the October 2012 cumulative time zone update that is described in KB2756822 are found in this update.
  • Jordan Standard Time: Changes the UTC offset for Jordan Standard Time from (UTC+2) to (UTC+3). Therefore, the display name of the time zone is changed to (UTC+03:00) Amman. From 2013 onwards, Jordan Standard Time will no longer have DST.

So what should you do to make sure that your computers are ready for the change?

Most applications and services reference the underlying Windows operating system for their date and time related rules, with some exceptions. We outline the various software updates to select Microsoft products (including various releases of the Microsoft Windows operating systems, Microsoft Office and other applications) on the Microsoft Daylight Saving Time Help and Support Center. There, we have information and links to updates for various products in mainstream and extended support affected by this change, as well as other various changes to DST offsets and time zones around the world.

If you use Microsoft Update on your PC at home, chances are you’re already covered. The latest update from October may already be installed on your PC if you have turned on Automatic Update in Windows. This ensures you’ll get the latest security and other important updates from Microsoft automatically. If you’re not sure if the update has been applied, visit the Microsoft Update site for more information.

If someone manages your network at work, it’s likely the needed updates are schedule to be deployed to your computers and devices, if they haven’t been installed already.

For IT professionals managing PCs, servers and Microsoft software installations, please visit http://www.microsoft.com/time for more details. Also, visit the support websites of any other software companies to see if you need to apply any updates. It’s not just Microsoft software that may require updates. Additionally, for the change in Russia, we provide specific details and guidance in country at http://support.microsoft.com/gp/cp_dst/ru.

While Microsoft’s Services infrastructure will be updated to reflect DST changes, it’s important that your computers — both clients and servers that interact with these services — also have the latest Windows cumulative updates for DST and time zone changes applied in order to ensure data integrity.

As always, thanks to the good folks in Windows and those across the company working to help manage time… especialy the number of daylight saving time and time zone changes that come in from various corners of the world. You can find this and much more documented over at http://www.microsoft.com/time and over on the Windows blog at http://blogs.technet.com/dst2007.

 

Tags: Windows, Microsoft, Daylight Saving Time, Daylight Savings Time, RSS, DST.

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It’s Time To Fall Back An Hour in the US and Canada: Daylight Saving Time Ends This Sunday

Drawing of a man holding back the hands of a clock with the caption "You can't stop time"

How quickly time flies, seems like just yesterday we were Springing Forward (way back on Sunday, March 11). Yes, it’s that time again if you’ll pardon the pun, to fall back in much of the Northern Hemisphere.

Daylight Saving Time ends on Sunday, November 4, 2012 at 2:00AM local time in much of the U.S and Canada, except in parts of the countries (including Hawaii and Arizona). For some folks in my old home north of the boarder, Daylight Saving Time means most Canadians will get an extra hour of sleep. Our friends in much of Europe have already bid goodbye, adieu, auf wiedersehen, gesundheit, farewell to European Summer Time, as they fall back on the last Sunday in October each year. (Not to worry, they’ll get back up and Spring forward again on the last Sunday in March.) For our friends in Russia, I’m not sure what the next few months will bring given the back and forth we’ve seen in the country in regard to policies, but safe to assume for now there is a state of détente in the Federation.

You can read more than you’ll ever want to know about DST here and on our official Microsoft Daylight Saving Time Help and Support Center at http://www.microsoft.com/time. DST in much of the US and Canada ends in accordance with the US Department of Energy’s Energy Policy Act of 2005 that was passed into law. DST ends later than it did prior to 2007, on the first Sunday of November; 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 past years.

Also important to note, but often ignored: the switch to daylight saving time also means the time zone suffix changes in North America, 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).

National Geographic has a very interesting article on “Daylight Saving Time – Why and When Does It End” (including a very cool photo of the display model of the inner workings of a clock at the China Science and Technology Museum in Beijing). As you may know (especially if you’re geek familiar with my woefully ignored blog – been busy!) the quite historical Benjamin Franklin pioneered the daylight saving time, as noted in David Prerau’s book Seize the Daylight: The Curious and Contentious Story of Daylight Saving Time. And of course, you’re likely much too young to recall the move by the U.S. Government in the 1970s to extend DST (back when the price of gas jumped nearly 50% to about 55 cents a gallon in the States)…

“During the 1973-74 Arab oil embargo, the U.S. once again extended daylight saving time through the winter, resulting in a one percent decrease in the country’s electrical load, according to federal studies cited by Prerau.”

“OK, that’s all nice and such, but what do I need to do besides set my kitchen clock back an hour?”

As I noted in this article, Microsoft strongly recommends that DST and time zone updates be installed on all affected systems, devices and applications to ensure consistency with current DST rules and time zone settings worldwide. Customers should review the product updates available and posted on this site and at http://support.microsoft.com/gp/dst_prodlist for the latest and updated information of Microsoft products affected by daylight saving time.

Here’s more coverage on DST this year from Bing News.

On a personal note, remember to keep things in perspective. Time is a precious thing. Never waste it

Have a good weekend, and don’t keep too much of that Halloween candy around. As noted here, you can thank candy makers for some of the politics behind DST.

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

References to DST on Bing: 1,700,000.

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