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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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ICANN Committee rejects dotless domain names, won’t “pursue any additional studies”

As you may recall from prior posts on this blog, there has been significant interest in the new gTLDs (e.g. foo.microsoft, foo.docs) and proposals from Google to allow one of their gTLD applications (.search) to function as a dotless domain (e.g. http//search). This ask was in sharp contrast to the report from ICANN’s own Security and Stability Advisory Committee (SSAC), that said dotless was a bad idea.

Microsoft and many others in the industry (including Yahoo, Verisign) expressed concerns in allowing dotless domains on the Internet. The Internet Architecture Board (IAB) published a public statement, noting the relevant standards published by the IETF RFCs and supporting ICANN SSAC’s report SAC053 as

“a reasonable summary of the technical problems that arise from the implementation of dotless domains.” 

And a further study directed by ICANN (from Carve Systems here) arrived at the same conclusions as the SSAC. In it, Carve supported SSAC 053 that dotless domains would not be universally reachable, and serious security vulnerabilities exist and would be enabled by allowing such use. It concluded the

“inherent trust in dotless names, by users and software, may lead to confusion when handling new Internet facing dotless domains. This confusion can result in unexpected behavior and a misappropriation of trust, ultimately degrading the stability and security of the Internet.”

The “broad theme” of dotless domain names is accurate, and significant issues exist with current and legacy software and services that follow the tradition of using dotless names exclusive in the intranet space. Dotless domains are used as a core part of many intranet networks, and as such there would be serious implications and repercussions related to their use. To address some of the “technology confusion” raised in the report, Microsoft and many others in the industry have provided guidance for developers, service providers and enterprises to use unambiguous Fully Qualified Domain Names to specify locations in the tree hierarchy of the DNS.

So, after many months, I was happy to read recently that ICANN’s New gTLD Program Committee (NGPC) passed a resolution definitively rejecting the push for dotless domains. This was also supported by ICANN’s board, as announced last week. You can read more about how ICANN rejected the request to support dotless generic top-level domains on the Internet in Charlie Osborne’s article here on ZDnet.

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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

Also available via http://bit.ly/V1jEcw

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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

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

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Much ado about something (important): World IPv6 Launch 2012 is June 6

A long time between posts, but starting up again with a note on IPv6.

Last year, I posted about Microsoft Bing and Xbox.com Support World IPv6 Day. This year, we welcome World IPv6 Launch (which kicks off tomorrow) as we once again work with other members of the Internet Society (ISOC) on promoting this next step in the progression of the Internet, Microsoft will participate in World IPv6 Day. (For more information on IPv6, you can Bing it: http://www.bing.com/search?q=ipv6)  If you read this blog, you already know that the transition to IPv6 is not the End of the World. No, Really.

So, ahead of World IPv6 Launch, here’s the post from Chris Palmer form the Windows Networking team on IPv6 improvements to Windows 8: http://win8.ms/ipv6…

Microsoft, along with other technology companies, has been working on the deployment of IPv6 to ensure that end-users continue to have high-quality Internet access, despite the performance and connectivity limitations brought about by IPv4 address exhaustion.

The most immediate benefit of IPv6 is that it provides more than 3×1038 IP addresses, enough for every person to have billions of addresses all to themselves, or enough to give every atom in the universe a unique address. This will allow the Internet to grow and evolve. IPv6 also provides for many security and performance improvements, like built-in support for IPsec. (What happened to IPv5, you ask? Bing can help you find out why it’s being “skipped.”)

Upgrading the entire Internet to IPv6 isn’t something that can be done instantly. It has taken many years to get to where we are today, and we still have many years of work to do. Currently, around 1% of devices can connect to the Internet using only IPv6.

As noted, the entire Internet is gradually shifting to IPv6, representing a foundational shift in every Internet experience. Microsoft is taking this transition very seriously, and working to ensure there is no interruption of service for our users as IPv6 is widely deployed. Since IPv6 was fully introduced in Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista, Microsoft has been working to support this next generation Internet protocol.

Most consumers and computer users won’t see any a major impact today: your current IPv4 address, as well as the applications and services you use today over IPv4 will likely be unaffected and continue to work, as Internet service providers (ISPs) and your network administrators will support your connection to the Internet. The tables below provide a summary view of the IPv6 support status of various services and products from Microsoft. Where available, links to more information about the support state of the products have been included. Consumers with IPv6 Internet capabilities – with both a device that supports IPv6 (like a Windows 7 PC) and support from your Internet provider – will automatically utilize IPv6 when connected to participating website. While the protocols are different, the browsing experiences of IPv4 and IPv6 are identical.

For IT professionals and technical users, additional information about server products is available through our Common Engineering Criteria (CEC). A set of engineering requirements are outlined for our Server products as part of the CEC program, which includes support for IPv6.

Microsoft maintains the Microsoft IPv6 information site on TechNet to provide more information on this new IP. There you can read more about how we’ve already built IPv6 support into the latest versions of Microsoft Windows, including Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2, and even in older versions such as Windows Vista, Windows Server 2003, and even Windows XP and Windows CE .NET. We offer overviews of IPv6, technical information, deployment and developer resources, including an overview of Teredo, the Microsoft platform that provides IPv6 connectivity across the current IPv4 Internet.

So, consumers, sit back and relax, knowing that (likely) your Internet Service Providers and Mobile Operators are hard at work to ensure that you have a seamless transition to IPv6. I know many IT Professionals and developers already have plans and efforts already to make to move to IPv6 (some are already there). For the ones who haven’t: get a plan in place lickity split and get a move on. Your customers and users are counting on it.

You can also read bout the next iteration in my post on IPv6 SP1. 😉

Tags: Windows, Microsoft, IPv6, IPv4

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