Microsoft Will Not Update Windows Mobile Timezone For Australia Commonwealth Games

[Ed Hansberry]

<a href="http://support.microsoft.com/kb/907494/">http://support.microsoft.com/kb/907494/</a><br /><br />Australia is moving the switch from daylight savings for the 2006 Commonwealth Games. While there is a <a href="http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;909915&sd=rss&spid=1773">patch available for desktop products</a>, it involves a relatively simple modification to the registry. Windows CE based devices do not maintain this information in the registry but in one of the nearly 300 DLL files in the Windows folder - I think it is the citydb.dll file but am not sure. Anyway, MS would need to provide that DLL for Pocket PC 2002, 2003, 2003SE and WM5 (they don't even list 2000 as a device any longer on that page) and they won't be doing it. They have provided a workaround, which basically involves changing the timezone you are in. :? <br /><br />If you live in or will be traveling to Australia, check the KB article and see if you will be in one of the affected states during March and April 2006.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/hansberry/update.gif" /> <b>Update:</b> Mr. PPC correctly pointed out in the thread that you should <b><i>not</i></b> implement the workaround Microsoft has in the article. If you do that, two things will happen.<br /><br />• All appointments currently set will shift one hour when you move from +10 to +11. They will be correct again after you shift back when the games are over. I think alarms will go whacky as well.<br />• All appointments set during the temporary change will shift the other way (not sure which set goes forward and which set goes back) after the games and will have to be fixed once you are back in the right timezone.<br /><br />The only valid workaround I can see is change your clock and don't sync. Syncing with ActiveSync will fix the clock. Nice huh? :evil:

[rlobrecht]

I wonder if they will do the same thing when the US changes their daylight savings time rules. The US Energy Policy Act http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_Policy_Act_of_2005 which was signed this year, and will go into effect in 2007 changes DST to start three weeks earlier and end one week later. The big difference is that the change is permanent, and the Australian one is for one year only.

[pbg]

In case you were wondering why Queensland, Western Australia and the Northern Territory are not also extending daylight saving time by a week; these states (and territory) do not participate in daylight saving time.

Personally I think the whole daylight saving stuff is a complete waste of time and effort anyhow. I am reminded of the words of Ford Prefect in the Hitch Hikers' Guide To The Galaxy where he pointed out to Arthur Dent "Time is an illusion - lunchtime doubly so".

[Mr. PPC]

Correct me if I am wrong, but doing Microsofts idea would cause appointments created while in one of the affected time zones (say NSW) to appear at the wrong time when you change to the new timezone.

If I am correct, then Microsofts idea isn't a fix or workaround.

I'll just adjust the time manually, since I typically don't have to worry about other timezones (not anymore).

[Janak Parekh]

I wonder if they will do the same thing when the US changes their daylight savings time rules. The US Energy Policy Act http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_Policy_Act_of_2005 which was signed this year, and will go into effect in 2007 changes DST to start three weeks earlier and end one week later. The big difference is that the change is permanent, and the Australian one is for one year only.
I would hope that MS releases updates for all Pocket PCs, or at least Pocket PCs from 2002 on, as there are still a lot of 2002 units still in circulation.

--janak

[Ed Hansberry]

If I am correct, then Microsofts idea isn't a fix or workaround.
Ouch. You are right. This will cause all sorts of problems. I've noted this in the original post.

[Darius Wey]

I'm glad I live in one of the states without this DST mess. The last thing I need is for my Pocket PC to start warping on me.

[heliod]

The right way to do it is to move to another place in THE SAME time zone which begins DST earlier. This is what we do in Israel (which is never supported) by moving from Jerusalem (GMT +2) to Athens (GMT+2+DST) at the moment that our DST begins.

However, I don't think this will work for Australia, since I think there is no zone nearby that enters DST before them.

[jaybo_nomad]

I wonder if they will do the same thing when the US changes their daylight savings time rules. The US Energy Policy Act http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_Policy_Act_of_2005 which was signed this year, and will go into effect in 2007 changes DST to start three weeks earlier and end one week later. The big difference is that the change is permanent, and the Australian one is for one year only.
This is a huge issue! Why don't the editors pick up this topic as a feature article and explain exactly what's going to happen in 3 months when everyone's clock is sudden off by an hour. Then we'll manually reset our clocks. Then 3 weeks later they'll be off by an hour again!

Is there any plan by MS to update citydb.dll for the US?

[Marc Zimmermann]

The only valid workaround I can see is change your clock and don't sync. Syncing with ActiveSync will fix the clock. Nice huh? :evil:

Not if you turn off the time sync option in ActiveSync on the PC.

[DVD]

The right way to do it is to move to another place in THE SAME time zone which begins DST earlier. This is what we do in Israel (which is never supported) by moving from Jerusalem (GMT +2) to Athens (GMT+2+DST) at the moment that our DST begins.

However, I don't think this will work for Australia, since I think there is no zone nearby that enters DST before them. Australia is in the southern hemisphere. It's the end of DST that's being pushed back a week -- so we'd need another place in the same TZ (UTC+10 in the case of Melbourne), in the southern hemisphere, that ends DST at least a week later than south-eastern Aus. I suspect Port Moresby, being in the tropics, doesn't do DST. But I'll check it out.

Alternately a UTC+10 in the northern hemisphere that starts DST by 2006-Mar-26 or earlier. Vladivostok? I'll check that out too.

South Australia, because of their perverted half-hour offset (UTC+9.5), are pretty much stuffed.

[DVD]

The only valid workaround I can see is change your clock and don't sync. Syncing with ActiveSync will fix the clock. Nice huh? :evil: Not if you turn off the time sync option in ActiveSync on the PC.

I'll probably simply avoid applying the patch to my desktop PCs and servers, then physically adjust them forward an hour at the start of the extra week (when they think DST has ended), and back an hour at the end (when the bloody govt think it has). That way the PCs and PPCs stay in the same timezone, and their clocks even show the correct (ie govt-mandated) time.

(Actually, I run a time-server for my LAN, so I could just adjust that, and see how the rest of the PCs, which sync their clocks to it, cope with the sudden apearance of a discrepancy of an hour. Of course my time-server would have to be prevented from syncing to anyone outside for that week -- might experience a drift of a minute or so over that period....)

Might be more complicated in an enterprise network spanning multiple TZs.

[kennyg]

How did Microsoft patch the problem? By adding a Time Zone override in the registry? I'd check but the dwnload is now invalid.

Kenny.