Microsoft exec says Namibia and Iran have recently changed DST rules
In an interview Microsoft published yesterday <http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/features/2007/mar07/03-01DaylightSaving.m...> Rich Kaplan, Vice President of Microsoft Customer Service, Partners and Automation said "Namibia and Iran ratified changes even more recently" than December 2006. Has anyone else heard about this, or was Mr. Kaplan merely misinformed? Kaplan is also quoted as saying that Brazil and Israel are not on the Gregorian calendar, so I'm inclined to think the information got garbled a bit in translation....
It was somehow garbled. Namibia: We had an inversion of DST vs Standard time in the original KB938388 due to some confusing interpretations. The clock change dates were correct, but this fixed the DST period. Iran: We didn't get official confirmation in time for Vista or the Nov KB938388 on their elimination of DST. The only two recent changes that affected Windows were Newfoundland and W. Australia, that were changed after our KB938388. We aren't granular enough to track things like Nunavit yet. :)
From the official KB at http://support.microsoft.com/kb/931836
Updates from the previous cumulative Windows time zone update The following changes have been made since the previous cumulative Windows time zone update. This was cumulative update 928388, and it was for Windows XP and Windows Server 2003:* Central Brazilian Standard Time and E. South America Standard Time Legal confirmation of 2007 DST laws was not received in time to include in prior cumulative time zone update. This update also sets the correct time to 00:00:00 for both time zones. * Iran Standard Time Legal confirmation that DST is no longer used was not received in time to include in prior cumulative time zone update. * Namibia Correct DST start and end dates from prior cumulative time zone update. * Newfoundland Standard Time Adoption of the U.S. and Canada 2007 DST rules were signed into law after the prior cumulative time zone update was created. * W. Australia Standard Time DST trial period was signed into law after the prior cumulative time zone update was created. -----Original Message----- From: Paul Eggert [mailto:eggert@CS.UCLA.EDU] Sent: Friday, March 02, 2007 11:28 AM To: tz@lecserver.nci.nih.gov Subject: Microsoft exec says Namibia and Iran have recently changed DST rules In an interview Microsoft published yesterday <http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/features/2007/mar07/03-01DaylightSav ing.mspx> Rich Kaplan, Vice President of Microsoft Customer Service, Partners and Automation said "Namibia and Iran ratified changes even more recently" than December 2006. Has anyone else heard about this, or was Mr. Kaplan merely misinformed? Kaplan is also quoted as saying that Brazil and Israel are not on the Gregorian calendar, so I'm inclined to think the information got garbled a bit in translation....
It is great to see Microsoft finally putting some muscle behind timezone updates. In the spirit of getting it right, here are some comments on the presumably latest update http://support.microsoft.com/kb/931836/en-us (note the english version, because you will receive a different version according to your IP, I received a spanish version here in Mexico). (1) Central Brazilian time: There are two states on GMT-4 with DST which would correspond to the timezone created; Mato Grosso and Mato Grosso do Sul. Manaus is a city in the state of East Amazonas, which is on GMT-4 without DST and therefore does not apply as title. This also concerns the timezone in the update, which should have a different title than Manaus. See for instance decree 5,920 on http://www.planalto.gov.br/ccivil_03/_Ato2004-2006/2006/Decreto/D5920.htm . (2) Namibia: it seems to me that a wrong inversion of DST vs Standard time is exactly what has been done *now*. Namibia is well below equator and therefore will not benefit from having DST between April and September (their winter time, just like Brazil or Australia or Chile). The start/end times have been inversed both in the web page and in the update timezones. It should start in September and end in April. (3) Egypt: The DST given is from Last Thursday in April at 23:59:59.999 to Last Thursday in September at 23:59:59.999. Actually the timezones for XP only expresses 23:59:59 without the extra precision; I don't know if this is a Windows Vista refinement. However, the tz database starts Last Friday in April at 0:00. This might seem equivalent, but there is a week of difference (instead of a 0.001 fraction of a second) in 2009, where the last Thursday of April is 2009-04-30 while Last Friday is 2009-04-24. The End date is correct - WTE has Last Thursday of September at 24:00, while tz database has last Thursday of September at 23:00 (standard time), both which are not compatible with Windows timezone definition, so the given approximation is the closest possible. (4) Beirut: I'm guessing that Lebanon is just using EU-like DST, while applying it at midnight instead of at 3:00 and 4:00 as for instance nearby Cyprus. Tz database has Lebanon DST to end Last Sunday in October at 0:00 similar to EU. Microsoft has DST ending in Last Saturday of October at 23:59:59.999, which is again 1 week wrong in 2009, where Last Saturday of October is 2009-10-31 while Last Sunday of October is 2009-10-25. (5) Jordan: Any of tz database and WTE and http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/timezone.html?n=11 have DST to end Last Friday of October just like 2006 (even in 2008 and 2009). In 2005 Jordan DST ended Last Friday of September. Do you have any authoritative information to support this claim of Last Friday of September for 2007? If not, you should change it to Last Friday of October instead of September. (6) Santiago: The Microsoft timezone for Chile starts DST Second Saturday of October at 23:59:59.999 and ends DST Second Saturday of March at 23:59:59.999. Note that this corresponds to First Sunday on or after 9.th at 0:00. Although there were several implementations of 23:59:59.999 with wrong sideeffects above, this one is the only way to get it right. I thought I'd just mention that because you are likely to begin wondering about *all* implementations of 23:59:59.999. Regards, - Jesper Nørgaard Welen
-----Original Message----- From: John Gray [mailto:johngray@winse.microsoft.com] Sent: Viernes, 02 de Marzo de 2007 14:43 To: tz@lecserver.nci.nih.gov; tz@lecserver.nci.nih.gov Subject: RE: Microsoft exec says Namibia and Iran have recently changed DSTrules
It was somehow garbled.
Namibia: We had an inversion of DST vs Standard time in the original KB938388 due to some confusing interpretations. The clock change dates were correct, but this fixed the DST period.
Iran: We didn't get official confirmation in time for Vista or the Nov KB938388 on their elimination of DST.
The only two recent changes that affected Windows were Newfoundland and W. Australia, that were changed after our KB938388. We aren't granular enough to track things like Nunavut (not Nunavit) yet. :)
From the official KB at http://support.microsoft.com/kb/931836 ...
participants (3)
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Jesper Norgaard Welen -
John Gray -
Paul Eggert