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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+

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New DST KBs available: Egypt and Venezuela

New info is now available on Egyptian (in case you missed it, posted last month) and the really new KB for changes in Venezuela on the DST Hot Topics and Latest News page…

Egypt 2007 Daylight Saving changes: The government of Egypt has announced on August 23rd, 2007, a change in the observance of daylight saving time in the country stating that the time change will take place on September 7th at 1:00AM local time. Officially, the change occurs at 11:59:59 PM Local time (+3 hours EEST, 23:59:59) on September 6th, 2007, when clocks should be moved back to 11:00:00 PM (+2 hours EET) instead of to 12:00:00 AM. For more information, please see Microsoft Knowledge Base article 940427.

Venezuelan time zone changes: The government of Venezuela has announced a change to the time zone for the country. To date, Venezuela observed AST. The new time zone change will begin September 24, 2007, when clocks will move backwards 30 minutes, from UTC-4:00 GMT to UTC-4:30. This change begins at 11:59:59 PM local time on September 24. Clocks should be moved back to 11:30:00 PM rather than advancing to 12:00:00 AM (midnight.) For more information, please see Microsoft Knowledge Base article 938977.

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

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Your questions: are there two Windows updates for the new DST rules?

In reference to the information out there on product updates for the upcoming daylight saving time changes, Larry asks…


“Why are there two Windows updates for the new DST rules?  Did the rules change after the first update was pushed?”


Great question.

Short answer:  yes, the rules changed. It turns out that assorted countries around the world try out or change to new DST rules, and even invent new time zones.  These changes occur more times in a year than the-artist-formerly known-as-Prince has changed his name.

Longer answer:  it can be a little complicated. There are changes to DST and time zones (TZ) that happen around the world that we may not be aware of, some that have been happening for years.  Most applications look to Windows for this information. To keep up to date we have to continuously release new updates.

So, to your questions: In most cases, we’re able to capture the worldwide updates in regular maintenance OS updates.  But due to the number and timing, we’re moving to a more regular cadence of shipping out semi-annual OS updates for DST and TZs.  The two updates Larry mentions are the ones we issued this past Spring in North America (Feb ’07) and more recently in August for the Fall Back changes. 

After we released KB931836 (the February ’07 time zone updates for the Windows OS), we saw changes in New Zealand (in April) and Jordan plus a few other changes.  This resulted in KB 933360, the August ’07 time zone Updates for the Windows OS.  So technically, there will only be one current update roll-up of time zones and DST rules, which today is KB 933360.

There’s an exception to every rule, of course… and this includes the countries that make changes annually. Take Brazil and Israel for a moment: there, the entry and exit dates (Spring Forward and Fall Back) change based on governmental decree and religious calendar, respectively.  Some countries (and even individual states in the US) trial different times as Western Australia did a couple of years ago.  And some change with very short notice (as Egypt just did – more on that below).  I posted some general advice here. 

And some countries decide on changes just weeks prior to the shift, as Egypt did in late August (with a shift just a couple of weeks later.  I think that Venezuela’s president will announce/ confirm changes tomorrow (Sunday, 16 Sept) in his weekly radio address, as noted here.  In these cases, we have the option to release hotfixes for the impacted areas, which in some cases not all end users need apply to their systems. (Hotfix information for these countries: Egypt is KB940427, and Venezuela is KB938977.)

Now, add that a few applications and services don’t reference the underlying OS for their TZ and DST rules (as we have with a few Microsoft products included on this list and some from third-parties) and you can see the complexity. We’re working to improve the situation across the company and move more and more products and services to reference the OS, allowing Windows to maintain an up-to-date database listing of the current DST and TZ values.

As they say, watch this space for more details.

Tags: Microsoft, Daylight Saving Time, Daylight Savings Time, DST, 638,405; 915,153; 1,750,000+

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KB article 933360 posted: August 2007 cumulative time zone and DST updates for Windows

Relatest to changes in Daylight Saving Time (or as some still refer to it: Daylight Savings Time), a quick note to let you know…


In case you missed my previous post on the latest Daylight Saving Time and Time Zone update, the August 2007 cumulative time zone update for Microsoft Windows operating systems is posted (see KB 933360):



View products that this article applies to.















Article ID : 933360
Last Review : August 7, 2007
Revision : 3.0

Important This update supersedes and replaces update KB931836, released in January 2007. This update also includes additional time zone changes that were signed in to law after update KB931836 was created. Customers who have already deployed update KB931836 should evaluate whether any of the five specific time zone changes that are addressed in the update described by this Microsoft Knowledge Base (KB) article merit deploying this update immediately. If systems are not directly affected, you can schedule deployment at the next available opportunity. We recommend that all customers standardize on the most current Windows cumulative time zone update to guarantee the consistency of the time zone database on all systems.

Important Before you apply the update that is described by this article, be aware of potential issues that may affect Microsoft Office Outlook.

For more information about these issues, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
931667 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/931667/) How to address the daylight saving time changes in 2007 by using the Time Zone Data Update Tool for Microsoft Office Outlook

Important If you are running Microsoft Exchange Server in an Information Technology (IT) environment, you must take additional measures to guarantee the correct operation of Exchange Server.

For more informationabout the Exchange daylight saving time (DST) update, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
926666 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/926666/) Update for daylight saving time changes in 2007 for Exchange 2003 Service Pack 2




The update that this article describes changes the time zone data to account for daylight saving time changes in several countries, as outlined. This update also includes other DST-related changes, time zone-related changes, and settings-related changes. Some of these changes will occur in 2007. Some of these changes have occurred since the products that are listed in the “Applies To” section were originally released. The update that this article describes is a cumulative update rollup that includes all the changes that were previously released in Microsoft Knowledge Base (KB) articles 928388 and 929120. This update also describes some additional changes since the last cumulative update in Microsoft Knowledge Base article 928388 and 931836.

Just to clarify, I received a mail today noting that a couple of people weren’t clear on the time zones added to this update, and whether or not time zones added in past KBs (931836) were included in the update.

 

Yes, this includes the TZ releases for countries, territories and provinces previously impacted and updated (such as Newfoundland):  it’s a cumulative update that also includes the updates from prior OS updates, including KB 931836, I believe. This from KB 933360…

  


Updates from the previous cumulative Windows time zone update


The following changes have been made since the previous Windows cumulative time zone update, described in KB931836:



















•

Caucasus Standard Time
Changes display name to Caucasus Standard Time as cities in the previous display name have separate time zones, and removes DST settings.


•

Armenian Standard Time
Creates a new time zone for Armenia to better align with different DST changes in the Caucasus Region.


•

New Zealand Standard Time
Adjusts DST start and end dates according to changes signed in to law after the prior cumulative time zone update was created (February 2007).


•

GTB Standard Time
Correct the display name for GTB Standard Time on Windows Server 2003 SP2 to include Bucharest.


•

Jordan Standard Time
Adjusts DST start and end times and dates according to changes signed in to law after the prior cumulative time zone update was created (February 2007).




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Of interest: Windows Home Server release candidate released

A quick note of interest… the Windows Home Server team released their release candidate publicly this week (see the blogs entry on this milestone here). 



Home Server is the term I use personally… although more appropriate seems to be the “personal server.” I’ve used the Mirra Personal Server (now Seagate) as launched by an old friend’s company and found it to be easy-to-use and manage. Such systems are great for data file management and backup in the home, as well as for small businesses. My opionion is that for regular network backup and for sharing content across the network (and when configured correctly, via the Internet securely), a personal server makes it easier. For this category to be successful, it needs to be easy to use and configure, well supported by the manufacturer, and reasonably priced.


An example of how this works in a real home? This from the Home Server blog…



“What I found most interesting is how Home Server is helping them with their two home-based businesses, a video production company (Jeff) and a corporate gift basket and commercial packaging biz (Denise.)  Video takes up lots ‘o space, as we all know.  Home Server’s storage helps Jeff consolidate it all in one place…no more drive letter/external drive/CD insanity.  And he really values how he can easily add more space as he needs it.  Backup saved his bacon the other day, too.  A video project got corrupted, but he simply restored it from a Home Server backup.  “I lost 30 minutes instead of, perhaps, a client.”