Another point below for those using the clock on their computers and
running Windows:
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April Fool's bug may change time in rare cases, Windows software won't
'Spring forward'
By Bob Sullivan
MSNBC
March 29 — As if Sunday morning won't already be hard enough for the
Daylight-Saving-Time challenged (is it spring ahead/fall back or spring
back/fall ahead?), a computer glitch might add to the clock confusion. A
two-year-old bug in Microsoft software will finally hit this Sunday, as
some software won't correctly spring ahead to the new time. Major problems
are not expected, but some minor annoyances — like failure of hotel wake-up
call systems — could surface.
NOTED CYBERSLEUTH Richard Smith, now chief technology officer of
PrivacyFoundation.org, found the bug in January of 1999, but Microsoft
officials say it was introduced into software back in 1995.
MSNBC is a Microsoft-NBC joint venture.)
It's a quirky bug. Basically, some Windows-based programs become confused
when Daylight Saving Time kicks off on April 1, creating an accidental
April Fool's joke. For the following week, all software impacted will be
one hour behind the correct time. On Sunday April 8, the problem corrects
itself.
Since the bug was discovered so long ago, most systems have since been
patched. But there is the possibility that so-called embedded systems,
which are not networked and have no way to receive updates, might encounter
the problem this weekend.
In a "reminder" note to developers sent out Thursday, Smith suggested there
might be pesky problems in airport arrival and departure time monitors,
transportation scheduling screens, worker punch clocks or hotel wake-up
systems.
In other words, travelers might wake up late for church on Sunday; and
hotel desks might get some complaints from customers that wake-up calls
were late.
But even Smith isn't sure just how many of these problems will crop up.
"My crystal ball is very fuzzy is if this bug is going to cause any
problems or not," Smith said in his note.
Besides, aren't people used to waking up confused on Daylight Saving Time
morning?
"Yea, if your wake-up system doesn't work, it's not like you needed that
excuse anyway, you already have one," said Russ Cooper, who moderates a
popular Windows bug mailing list. Cooper downplayed the impact of the bug,
too.
"Ninety-eight percent of all computers — maybe 99 percent — that have
monitors or keyboards won't be affected," he said.
The source of the problem is the way certain programs figure out what time
it is. Programmers can choose to have their software ask the computer's
operating system for the time, or they can ask other software to compute
the time. If the program was written in using Microsoft's Visual C++, the
programmer might have employed the time function in the Visual C++ Runtime
Library — and that's where the bug is.
Two years ago, Smith said, there were "tons" of programs utilizing the
faulty clock, including Microsoft's Internet Explorer.
But since then, most software has since be updated and reinstalled, and
won't exhibit the bug.
"It's not like desktops will have the wrong time," Cooper said. "And I
can't think of a critical system that could be affected by this. It's
pretty much a ho-hummer."
- - - -
Day Light Savings
From: Richard Chudacoff, MD (rchudacoff@mylinuxisp.com)
Fri, 30 Mar 2001 11:22:18 -0600
Remember this Sunday to advance your clocks.
--
Richard Chudacoff, MD
Chudacoff Obstetrics & Gynecology, PLLC
15200 Southwest Freeway, #270
Sugar Land, TX 77478
Tel: 281-277-3900
Fax: 281-277-3901
rchudacoff@mylinuxisp.com <mailto:rchudacoff@mylinuxisp.com>
Richard.Chudacoff@obgyn.net
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