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Change
in Daylight Savings Time |
IMPORTANT NEWS:
Daylight Savings Time Impact
Daylight Savings Time will be starting 3 weeks earlier and ending 1 week later
beginning this year. This is due to the Energy Policy Act of 2005 passed by the American Congress. The standard
period for Daylight Savings Time
would have been April 1st through October 28th, but this year it will be from
March 11th through November 3rd. This affects everything that happens on computers that uses dates, which is just
about everything – remember, all
files are time and date stamped. It is particularly hard on calendar and email
systems.
Software vendors are just now getting the final versions of their patches out,
even though the change was signed
into law in August, 2005. In breadth, the problem is similar to the Year 2000
problem, though the fixes for this
are much more straightforward and the workarounds much easier for things that
don’t get patched.
Before this happens, you will want to be certain that you document your calendar
entries and appointments in
order to verify they have been adjusted properly after the updates are applied.
Here are a few suggestions to
ensure your appointments remain at the correct times:
- Add the beginning and end time of each appointment to the subject line of your
appointments between 3/11/07 and 4/1/07, as well as those between 10/28/07 and 11/3/07.
- For later reference, print your appointments between 3/11/07 and 4/1/07, as
well as those between
10/28/07 and 11/3/07.
- If you do not have any appointments yet during these time periods, do not add
any meetings or
appointments until after the updates have been applied.
Due to the unique nature of this event, we strongly urge you to use one of the
approaches listed above to
document all appointments that fall in both of the extended Daylight Savings
Time periods in March and October.
Here is list of the current services that have been patched.
- The Novell File servers have been patched.
- The Blackberry server has been patched. Individual Blackberry devices also
need a patch. This patch is being released in batches, over the air to the devices, so we will not need to
“touch” the Blackberries.
Depending on the model of your Blackberry, you might be prompted to reboot your
device in order for the patch to take effect.
- We are working with IBM to obtain the latest patch for Lotus Notes Email.
- Blackboard servers have been patched.
- Microsoft has published a patch for Windows XP but it is not yet a mandatory
update on the Microsoft
Update service. At some point before the DST change it will be made mandatory so
it will be automatically applied to all users desktops.
- Microsoft is still working on final patches for the entire Microsoft Office
suite. When they are
complete it is expected they too will be mandatory patches through Microsoft
Update. There are many that are currently available as elective updates.
- The Java software from Sun also requires an update. Notice of this update is
presented to the users, but as with all Sun patches the update is not automatically installed.
- Apple published updates for MacOS and their applications at the end of last
week. Notice of the updates is presented to the users, but as with all Apple patches the updates are not
automatically installed.
We encourage you to stop by the Office of Smith IT or call 301-405-2269, if you
have any questions or concerns regarding the Daylight Savings Time impact.
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