“Thousands of Microsoft customers are running into problems understanding and applying the myriad Microsoft Daylight Saving Time (DST) patches required in order to keep their Windows, Exchange Server and other systems up-to-date when DST takes effect on March 11,” Mary Jo Foley blogs for ZDNet.
Foley reports, “Microsoft’s online DST chat room — which Microsoft is currently keeping open from 6 a.m. PST to 9 p.m. PST to handle customers’ questions — is full of customers who can’t get their DST patches to work. Microsoft support phone lines are jammed with users with DST problems.”
“‘The workstation patches are easy, the stand alone Outlook tool is no big deal. If you’re running Exchange and you try to run the Exchange update tool 930879, good luck. It’s a crap shot,’ said Microsoft customer Paul Marsh,” Foley reports.
Foley reports, “Users with Windows 2000, Exchange 2000 and Exchange 5.5 — products that are no longer in mainstream support and thus are no longer covered under standard Microsoft support agreements are realizing that they need to pay Microsoft $4,000 in order to obtain DST patches for these products.”
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “JadisOne” for the heads up.]
Thousands of Microsoft customers running into problems is clockwork.
If they haven’t already, Windows-only suffers should be coming to a sad realization. Cancel or Allow?
MacDailyNews Note: On February 15, Apple released free Daylight Saving Time Updates for Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger and 10.3 Panther which addressed recent changes in the way Daylight Saving Time will be observed in the U.S. and Canada beginning in March 2007 and includes the latest time zone information for the rest of the world.
Apple’s Daylight Saving Time Updates are available via Software Update and also as standalone installers:
• Daylight Saving Time Update (Tiger): http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/daylightsavingtimeupdatetiger.html
• Daylight Saving Time Update (Panther): http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/daylightsavingtimeupdatepanther.html
Daylight Saving Time Fix 1.0 for earlier versions of Mac OS X: http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macos/32030
Related article:
Apple releases Daylight Saving Time Updates (10.4 Tiger and 10.3 Panther) – February 15, 2007
MDN: “Thousands of Microsoft customers running into problems is clockwork.”
Yeah, clockwork orange!
Someone said DST was created to get us to think and act less like independent individuals and more used to being controlled by our government.
Sounds like the philosophy public education in America, if you ask me!
Would it be fair to say that Microsoft customers don’t know whether they’re coming or going?
Can I get a patch for OS 9 systems? No? How is that better than Microsoft?
For information about Daylight Saving Time see http://webexhibits.org/daylightsaving/index.html
For Benjamin Franklin’s essay on the subject see http://webexhibits.org/daylightsaving/franklin.html
Not to be a pooper, but all our “apple time” settings on our 20 or so macs at work are all screwy and have never been consistent or reliable in years. So it would behoove (is that right???) Apple to maybe check on that. Does anyone else have crappy Apple time settings?
Actually Stab the man is correct — those were the original reasons. Now we don’t need them as much because farming is now run by many fewer people — mostly successful individuals or large agribusinesses. They rely upon automation and use massive machines that are all equipped with headlights, allowing them to farm 24 hours a day. As for kids in the morning, well, that’s still arguable. But I’ve been to school so often in the dark that I don’t think that’s valid anymore, either.
qka – i don’t know, is there a dst patch available for windows ME?
I can testify to the mess that is Microsoft DST patches.
The note that went out yesterday here at work said (and I quote): “one time calendar entries for meetings scheduled between Mar. 11 and Apr. 1 need to be updated by the organizers, as they will NOT be fixed by the patch”
Many calendar items after the new changeover date that were previously “all day” events in Outlook are now showing as running from 1:00 am the day of the event to 1:00 am the next day (meaning they show up in both days).
What a f@#$ing joke. Outlook/Exchange has got to be one of the most brain-dead designs of anything, ever.
Maybe the problem is caused by the fact that most people don’t want to give microsoft the ‘time of day’, in a manner of speaking. lol
These Microsucks patches have completely screwed up our Novell Groupwise Calender app that our hospital uses. Many people’s calenders were erased after the patch was applied! Also, for some reason it shifts all appointments up an hour. WTF? Hello, Microsucks! If you have an appointment at 9 am, it’s at 9 am no matter whether you are on daylight savings time or standard time!
Oh, and our IT dept. still says, “No Macs allowed on the network. They will screw everything up”.
The only thing it would screw up is that guy’s job security.
@dbcoyle
I’ve got six macs at the shop, sync’d with 3 macs at home. Powerpc and Intel mixed in the lot, no time issues here.
Tommy Boy:
“Point being, Apple only released the patch for 10.3 and 10.4. Not 8, 9, 10.0, 10.1, or 10.2.”
All of OS X versions are covered, by Apple and the UNH CIS group:
“Mac OS X Daylight Saving Time Software Fix updates your Mac running Mac OS X 10.0, 10.1, 10.2, and 10.3…”
http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/24267
Anyone still running mission-critical applications on OS 9 and 8 are on their own; but I suspect they’re used to it by now.
“Anyone still running mission-critical applications on OS 9 and 8 are on their own; but I suspect they’re used to it by now.”
If I still used pre-OS X, I’d probably just set the time forward an hour in control panels when I got to work on Monday. I would hope that no life-monitoring systems are running classic. That’s a sad mac.
The province of Saskatchewan in Canada does not practice Daylight Savings Time. Neither does the north-east corner of the province of British Columbia.
Perhaps all Windows users could move there. God knows there is room for more people and the real estate is cheap.
We had the same Exchange issue here at work. They tried patching it several times, and even after it worked, a bunch of Exchange appointments need to be rescheduled. Just how idiotic is Microsoft?
As far as I can recall the patch is not relevant for Apple systems prior to OS X.
OS9 and prior all had manual switches for ST and DST in the date control panel, IT WAS NOT AUTOMATIC, unless you were using a time server, which if memory serves me correct came around 8.1 to 8.5 But even then you still had to manually turn on DST.
Of course I could be completely wrong in all this, as it has been years since I have used a pre X system.
I wonder if pirated copies will get the update. Those so-called Genuine checks might prevent it. As millions of users out there use pirated Copies of XP, 2000 and Vista.
There are two checkboxes: Set Daylight-Saving Time Automatically and Daylight-Saving Time is in effect.
On a related note: the DST patch for my Blackberry (pushed by the IT department over the weekend) took my Blackberry out of commission. Had to wipe the BB clean and reauthorize.
I’m sure your OS 9 patch will come out about as soon as the Windows 95 patch does…which is never. How about getting into the new millenium software wise eh?
What if Windows users just poitned their servers to Apple’s time servers? Would they still need to upgrade to $4000 M$ fix?
And Microsoft will release a new Clockwork Orange Gadget for Vista.
It has a spinning clock and plays “Singin’ In The Rain” with a graphic animation of Ballmer kicking a tied up, screaming office chair.
Once you’ve slurped of the Microsoft teat squirt, of what use is Time, after all…?
In a small sense this is kinda good for Arizona.. more people will move to AZ because we don’t change our clocks ever. 😀
At the tone, please hand over $4000. I’ll send you the address.
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MW – “problems”