First of all I have to ask... How many people know about the upcoming change to Daylight Saving Time this year?  How many are aware that it starts earlier this year and ends later?  It is amazing to me that when you start talking about this subject a lot of folks say change... what change? 

For those of you that don't know there is a change in the start and end dates for Daylight Saving Time this year.  It will start on Sunday, March 11th, 2007 at 2:00am and will end on Sunday, November 4th, 2007.  So for 2007 DST starts 3 weeks earlier on the second Sunday of March and ends a week later on the first Sunday of November.  This change was made as attempt to reduce energy consumption. 

So what needs to happen this year to facilitate the change in DST and what will the impact be. 

Yesterday it suddenly dawned on me that this change was about 5 weeks away.  I started doing some research on how it will affect my company and what we would need to do to our PC's, servers and equipment.  Let's just say, I should have thought of this earlier. (But I am still one step ahead of those of you that don't realize the change is set to happen). 

Here is what I found out.

First of all things like VCR's, DVD's, DVR's, may have some problems.  They won't realize that the time change takes place 3 weeks earlier so that show that you thought you were recording may not record at all. (Now in the case of 24 that would be devastating to me.  If I miss 24, I may go into melt down. ...  Only kidding.)

Now what about cell phones, PDA's, Fax Machines, Time Clocks, switches, routers, NTP appliances and PBX's?  How many of them have the code imbedded to change to DST on the first Sunday of April and the last Sunday in October? This is just the tip of the iceberg.  Each company will have to look at the impact that this change will have on you.

According to Microsoft these are their products that will be affected by the change.

Microsoft products affected by the DST legislation
Windows Client
Windows Server
Windows Mobile
Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services
Microsoft Exchange Server
Microsoft Office Outlook
Microsoft Dynamics CRM
Microsoft Biztalk Server
Microsoft SQL Server Notification Services
Microsoft Entourage

Now for the OS's and how they are going to handle it.

Windows 2000 Server and Professional

The news is not good for those of us still forced to run Windows 2000, either server or workstation.  Windows 2000 is going to require a manual process be done to update the timezone database and the registry keys for the current control set.  I downloaded and watched the webcast on the steps to do the process and the information contained in the webcast was very helpful.

To view the webcast go to:
www118.livemeeting.com/cc/msevents/view

For those of you that don't want to take the time to view the webcast, you will need to look at the information in the Microsoft Knowledge Base articles number KB914387 and KB928388.  The first article is the step by step procedure for making the change to your timezone database and the registry settings.  The second is a Time Zone Editor tool that will help you if you just want to change the timezone that you or the computer is located in.  (This is not recommended, especially for laptops that travel.)

It looks like the entire process may take between 15 minutes and a half hour to complete.  I haven't had a chance to follow the procedure yet so can't give you a definite time. 

Windows 95/98/ME/NT Server and Workstation

For those of you still using Windows 95, 98, ME, NT 4 server or workstation, it is time to upgrade.  Of course upgrading may mean buying a new computer.  Sorry about that but that is the price of progress.  Technology continues to change and we just have to change with it.

Windows XP (SP1) and  XP Home Edition (SP1)

Here is the information/clarification on these two items.  Installing service pack 2 appears to be the answer.  Then you fall into the patch available category.  When Microsoft talks about XP SP2 it includes Home and Professional.

Windows XP (SP2), XP Home Edition (SP2)  and Windows 2003

There is a patch available on the Microsoft download site and will be in the Update Patch cycle sometime in early March.

Windows Vista

No updates are needed. It is shipping with the new Timezone Database installed.

Microsoft Exchange, Outlook, Biztalk Server, SQL Server or any of the other items listed in the table above would be advised to check the Microsoft article about what the requirements for them will be.

www.microsoft.com/windows/timezone/dst2007.mspx


It looks like Redhat has released patches for their OS's, as well as IBM, Novell, Sun, Cisco, Fortinet, Apple and the list goes on. For more info and additional resources check out:

www.edgeblog.net/2007/daylight-saving-time-the-year-2007-problem/

Applications like Oracle, MySQL, Java also have issues that need to be addressed.  The information for these can be found at the above website.

Now for those of you that say... Ok this is it. I do it now and I am done with it.  Well, maybe not.  Take a look at the information provided at:

webexhibits.org/daylightsaving/b.html

Specifically the paragraph that states, "The Secretary of Energy will report the impact of this change to Congress. Congress retains the right to resume the 2005 Daylight Saving Time schedule once the Department of Energy study is complete." 

I think what that means is that this is a test year. If they don't like it they can change it back.  Ok so then does that mean that next year we have to do the whole thing over and reverse what we did this year??? 


Note from Jeremy (one of our readers):

An important note for the Daylight Saving Time changes for this year: a lot of software needs updates, not just operating systems. Anything that uses its own prepackaged JVM needs updates, most software that calculates dates (many will read the system time/date, but use internal code for calculating dates after that).

The best bet is to list out any 3rd party software and double check with the vendors. We've got piles of software that needs to be updated on top of the OS patches. And to make matters worse, not all vendors have released patches for their software yet.

Great idea so thought I would include it in the diary.


We are getting a lot of questions about the DST change and whether it impacts anyone outside of the US.  I am not aware of other countries that are changing their start and end dates. There are more than 70 countries that observe DST in one form or another.  We recommend that you check with your local government to determine if any change will be taking place in your country or area.