The DST II Bug is coming. It will strike on March 11 (one week from today).
On this day, all computers running operating systems other than Windows XP or Vista, or Mac OS 10, and even those systems if they are not connected to the internet, will change to DST on the wrong date. Correction: They won't change time on the correct date. Congress, in their infinite stupidity, changed the date.
In addition, the calendar functions in Outlook and Office will encode your appointments for the wrong time. This will shift your appointment times by an hour.
You will have to turn off the DST function, and then change time zones manually, to fix this. Otherwise, it will be wrong on both March 11 and April 1. There will also be two error dates in October and November.
Other things will be affected by the DST bug too:
- All VCRs and DVD recorders made before 2006 will change time on the wrong date, unless they are designed to read the time from the PBS station.
- Alarm clocks with automatic DST will change on the wrong date. But the atomic clock ones will be correct if they receive the signal at the proper time. But some of them may make the change one day late.
- Other home appliances with clocks will change on the wrong dates.
- Traffic signal systems may switch to rush-hour mode an hour late, causing traffic jams on monday.
- Building control systems will turn on lights and raise the thermostats an hour late.
- Process controls will be out of sync.
- Hospital scheduling systems will be out of sync with each other.
- People all over the world are going to be confused.
- People in colder areas will have to use their defrosters to remove windshield ice more days, because the sun won't do the job.
- People in warmer areas will have to pay more for air conditioning and for gasoline, because they will have to use air conditioners more days than they otherwise would have to.
It would be much better to abolish the whole scheme.
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DST I happened in 2000, when Windows changed time a week late. It caused more failures than Y2K caused.