Daylight Savings Time Patch

[Ed Hansberry]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.microsoft.com/windowsmobile/en-us/downloads/microsoft/daylight-savings-update.mspx' target='_blank'>http://www.microsoft.com/windowsmob...ngs-update.mspx</a><br /><br /></div><p>It seems it is time to update your WinMo device again for daylight savings time. In the US, the time change is this weekend and Europe made the switch last weekend. To make sure your device has all of the right time zone changes for around the world, you'll want to apply this patch. Yes, even those of you with shiny new WinMo 6.5 devices need to apply it. The patch applies to WinMo 5.0 and higher devices.</p><p>And no, don't bother checking Windows Update on the device. That would make too much sense. <img src="http://www.ehansberry.com/ppct/rolleyes.gif" /></p><p>If you are reading this on your device, <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/windowsmobile/en-us/downloads/microsoft/daylight-savings-update.mspx">this link</a> should download the necessary CAB file.</p>

[Sven Johannsen]

You really think that is necessary for everyone? At the bottom of the article you linked, it lists the changes made by this update. There are some updates to start and stop times around the world and changes to the listed names in the TZ dropdown. I personally don't see myself going to any of those places, nor do I have friends, or associates, there with whom I would exchange calendar appointments via .ics which would get messed up.

So, from my point of view, since my new 6.5 phone didn't change when Europe did last weekend, and I don't know yet if it will handle this weekend correctly here in the US, I'm not going to mess with it. (Yet)

Actually I have a simple solution. Get rid of DST worldwide. You don't save diddly, you just move it to the other end of the day. If you want an extra hour of daylight in the evening, just get up and hour earlier in the morning.

[Reid Kistler]

A most timely reminder...

Wife's Cingular 8125 (HTC Wizard) glitched this past weekend, throwing her appointments off.

Interestingly, she applied the "Fix," but ended up with one week's worth of Incorrect Times that needed to be individually corrected.

My Fuze got so messed up during the DST change this past spring that I have taken to INCLUDING THE APPOINTMENT TIME as part of the SUBJECT and/or Note.

Am also more careful about Reviewing the next day's schedule, instead of relying solely on the PDA. If nothing else, want to be certain that the PDA Appointment Time AGREES with that placed as Text within the Appointment (Subject / Note).

At the same time, this DST hassle seems incredibly SILLY: MS cannot figure out how to do this Automatically? Especially given the "December 2008 cumulative daylight saving time update" - ?!?!

Oh Wait: see the Important Notes
"Make sure that you uninstall DST update 958729 (the December 2008 cumulative DST update) before you install the most recent update. The start and end time of your appointments will be adjusted as a result of these update changes."

Am absolutely certain that my appointments "will be adjusted" during this procedure. Alas, am not at ALL certain that the final results will be CORRECT! :(

[nosmohtac]

WOW!!!

I'm a huge WinMo Fan, but with these kind of DST snafu's going on, still to this day, it is no wonder why "Windows Phone" (or whatever they're calling it now) is losing market share.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not jumping ship and I don't care how many apps there are in the iphone app store or android's app store, (I can look more than one place for my apps I've been doing it for 10 yrs) Windows Mobile is very familiar to me and does what I need it to do. Luckily I don't have to rely on it heavily for appointments and calendar items.

BTW, I agree with the poster that recommended abolishing DST worldwide.
What a joke!!

[Ed Hansberry]

You really think that is necessary for everyone? At the bottom of the article you linked, it lists the changes made by this update. There are some updates to start and stop times around the world and changes to the listed names in the TZ dropdown. I personally don't see myself going to any of those places, nor do I have friends, or associates, there with whom I would exchange calendar appointments via .ics which would get messed up.

It is easier to apply the patch than to have to figure out what changes this one includes and envision every possible appointment you might make with someone and figure out whether or not you need it.

Besides, if you run WU on your desktop, you patched Outlook with this data. Your phone and Outlook might as well be in sync, even if you don't directly sync the two (go through Exchange, Google Calendar, etc. for example)

[Ed Hansberry]

BTW, I agree with the poster that recommended abolishing DST worldwide.
What a joke!!

I am very much looking forward to DST. I run in the mornings and don't like to run in the dark. right now, sunrise has moved so far back that my run schedule pushes back when I get to the office. This weekend, my whole day can start an hour earlier.

I appreciate the world recognizing DST so I can get to work on time. http://www.ehansberry.com/ppct/rotfl.gif

[doogald]

I am very much looking forward to DST. I run in the mornings and don't like to run in the dark. right now, sunrise has moved so far back that my run schedule pushes back when I get to the office. This weekend, my whole day can start an hour earlier.

I appreciate the world recognizing DST so I can get to work on time. http://www.ehansberry.com/ppct/rotfl.gif

Actually, what you are looking forward to is a return to standard time. DST is arguably reasonable from mid-March through mid-September - it gives us later sunshine during hours when most of us are awake - but otherwise it doesn't buy us too much. I can't believe that anybody likes having their kids walk to school or wait at a bus stop while it's dark, as it has been for weeks here in New England during that time.

(I also run at 5:30 am every day, and can't wait for it to be light at least part of the time, starting Monday . . .)

[Cirrob]

I never applied that patch but woke up this morning and the time had been set back anyway. Had a little info window that popped up letting me know it had applied the change to my clock and appointments.

[Ed Hansberry]

I never applied that patch but woke up this morning and the time had been set back anyway.
Not odd at all. If you don't apply the patch, you will only be affected if you live in, visit or exchange meeting requests with people in the 13 areas addressed by the patch.

[Sven Johannsen]

Not odd at all. If you don't apply the patch, you will only be affected if you live in, visit or exchange meeting requests with people in the 13 areas addressed by the patch.
What needs to be understood is that within the OS somewhere (used to be in the registry) is a table that assignes DST start and stop times for various places. By places I mean distinct TimeZones and local variants. For example, while Arizona is in the US Mountain Time Zone, they, as a State, don't subscribe to DST at all, so you have to have a different set of entries than you would for Colorado, even though they are both GMT -7.

As places change when they do what, you have to fix what the table says to accurately reflect the reality where individuals live. A lot of the issues came a few years back when the whole world seemed bent on changing when they started and stopped DST, and natuarally all had their own ideas of when that should be and when the change should start. For each change a new set of rules needs to be applied. With the way MS does it now, all the rules are replaced, even if most just stay the same.

I gave some thought the old way in the registry, where you could go make the change to your life individually, but I would guess that would cause some issues when some folks would/could fix stuff and others didn't. You'd wind up with the errors in time translation, between 'patched' and 'unpatched' individuals. So, until DST start and stop times are universally implemented, we will always have this issue, unless we just kill it altogether...universally.

P.S. with the advent of converged devices, you also add the complexity of how well the carrier keeps track of what they send to the device in the way of time and TZ.

[oldan]

The patch applies to WinMo 5.0 and higher devices.</b>And no, don't bother checking Windows Update on the device. That would make too much sense.
And that is just why WinMo is losing support from me. I moved to WebOS and it figured out DST this past weekend without an additional patch or nudging from me.

[rlieving]

I agree with the previous post about WebOS.

I am SO GLAD to leave this stuff behind with my iPhone. This is the kind of garbage that made me give up on Windows Mobile in the first place. DST patch????? ARE YOU KIDDING ME???? REGISTRY SETTINGS??? WHAT?
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When I got my Windows Mobile phone in 2006, MSFT promised to usher in a whole new line of devices that would allow someone to update the OS. Since then, my WinMo 2005 device is WAY out of date, DST changed and WinMo people are worrying about applying a patch. Meanwhile, the OS updates never came, leaving the user to manage patches with every release.

That means, if you reset your device, you now have to manage the patch for the rest of your phone's life. Does this strike anyone else as COMPLETELY ASININE?

[Sven Johannsen]

And that is just why WinMo is losing support from me. I moved to WebOS and it figured out DST this past weekend without an additional patch or nudging from me.
I didn't have to do anything this past weekend either on my unpatched phones. Of course I don't live on the Kamchatka penninsula or any of the other places where the government, or whatever official entity, changed when DST happens, or doesn't happen. It has very little to do with the OS, except that MS tries to accomodate every variation of DST around the globe where their devices may be in use. As those places change, the accomodation must change too. Hence, the 'patch'.