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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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Advisory: October 2012 DST Cumulative Update for Windows operating systems

As just announced, the October 2012 DST Cumulative update for Windows operating systems has been published on the Microsoft Download Center. This year’s October Update replaces the normal August Cumulative Update. 

More info is available here on the official DST blog, and you can get the update in KB 2756822

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Update: No immediate plans in Russia to return to Winter Time in 2012

A few days ago I mentioned the discussion that Russia may return to Winter Time in 2012.

I now have news that legislative initiative of the State Duma Health Committee to switch Russia back to the “winter time” has been withdrawn. As such, we don’t believe there will be any near-term change to Russia’s time zone offset for what we refer to commonly as Daylight Saving Time, or any immediate move in the Federation to move their clocks again. We believe the issue will be considered by the Government and will continue to watch the issue.

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

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Advisory: Russia’s possible return to Winter Time in 2012

Earlier this summer we received news reports that the Russian government was considering a move to Winter Time, changing their prior decree in 2011 to abolish Daylight Saving Time in the federation.  At that time, we weren’t certain the government would make this change.

Recent news confirms there is a move in government to revise the current Federal Law and allow for the transition from summer to winter time…

“Russia’s railways have halted ticket sales for trains leaving after late October amid confusion created by the authorities’ failure to decide in good time whether to put the clocks back this winter.

“… the head of the parliament’s health committee submitted a bill calling for Russia to stay in winter time all year round, paving the way for the switchback.”

If you recall the change in Russia last year (which was intended to be a permanent change) we provided most updates and guidance in our products and services in advance of the change. This year is different: the changes could be enacted into law quickly and impact our ability to provide a comprehensive set of updates and guidance.

We don’t have a complete picture of the proposed changes but should learn more after Parliamentary hearings on the issue later this week. More information will be provided externally at http://www.microsoft.com/time.

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

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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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