Simple. Get a Mac. Not a problem. Period.

Simple. Get a Mac. Not a problem. Period.

It's a bit disappointing that Microsoft did not have the courtesy to make certain that all versions of Outlook in use, even as far back as at least Outlook 2000 or even Outlook 97, received a simple no-fuss and no-bother patch. I have two licensed versions of Outlook 2000 premium and I do not want to buy anything new in this area from Microsoft. One license runs on an XP system, the other on a Windows 2000 PC.

Microsoft can keep saying that older OSs and older Office apps are "out of support" or however they phrase it, but the firm should consider the message this sends to users in the era of Google's web-based alternatives: That when you need your trusted vendor, your trusted vendor isn't there for you unless you are willing to keep up with the latest or nearly latest versions of its proprietary expensive software.

This negative message I would suggest has a greater impact today when customers may find it easier to simply adopt the free Google Mail and Google Calendar.

Ditto it seems to me for Windows 2000 and Windows 98, although evidently the TZEdit utility can be used on those Windows versions to manually set the time changes.

I would not assume however that an XP PC is problem-free simply by virtue of installing the XP update(s) for this issue or any Outlook fixes offered; presumably their will be other apps affected in subtle ways that will matter to some users. And due diligence implies keeping a watchful eye on dates for the next few weeks even if one has all the patches needed for Outlook.

I speak only in terms of the SOHO-level end user, and not in terms of corporate users within large firms, whose issues may be broader in scope.

There is a relatively simple way for the SOHO user of older Windows PCs to keep the time and date accurately set on Windows 2000 or even on Windows 98, at least at every bootup, if the PCs are LAN-connected and there is an XP machine running when bootup occurs. I have long used a simple batch file to synchronize older windows PCs on the LAN. It is not likely the best approach security wise, but it works okay for little LANs.

The approach involves a simple batch file command that can be used to get the time from another PC on a LAN:

@net time \\huron /set /yes

where //huron would be the network name of the computer you want to get the time from.

A complete explanation of the technique, which requires a little finesse to implement smoothly, is on a web page of mine at:
http://tinyurl.com/2tmovc

The OS patches weren't a big deal for us even with the lack of support for NT. Our 3rd party solution had "unofficial" deliverables and the registry hack was simple enough.

The biggest nightmare came from our Exchange/Outlook environment. Patching the Exchange server meant implementing a security model we weren't prepared for that knocked out our ability to send Blackberry messages. It took a phone call to RIM to get that straightened out and a second call to MS for our domain admins and various other operator level users since those groups are now in a special adminSDholder container. (Maybe they always were and it just changed rights, I'm not positive.)

The tool for upgrading everyone's calendars from Exchange should have been a lot easier to figure out than it was. Had to find a step-by-step on the web to get that working and it still missed a number of people that required manual cleanup.

Handhelds are their own headache, we're still not 100% on those.

We also just learned that Microsoft Outlook 2001 running in Mac classic is still a problem when we thought it was addressed. We'll be fixing these issues for the next three weeks of extended DST.

Friggin Sun for figuring out that the timezone info in all current and historic JRE's has a problem. Default settings for TZUpdater also blow down the problem also.

Nothing like a last day all-nighter to fix something we've spent WEEKS on.

The Sun JRE issue is just a train-wreck.

Friggin Sun for figuring out that the timezone info in all current and historic JRE's has a problem. Default settings for TZUpdater also blow down the problem also.

Nothing like a last day all-nighter to fix something we've spent WEEKS on.

The Sun JRE issue is just a train-wreck.

As others have pointed out, Microsoft isn't the only vendor deserving blame here. Sure, Microsoft should be critized for putting an underpowered B-team on the project, being late to provide customers with the needed tools and patches, and then having too may bugs in those tools and patches. It was this mishandling by Microsoft that motivated me to be one of the first on the planet to provide a third party OS patching tool for NT 4 and Windows 2000 (sharpebusinesssolutions.com/dst2007). Oracle was just as bad. Try finding a tool from Oracle to patch your Oracle 9i and 10g clients. Sun didn't help matters with their 11th hour announced problem with their tzupdater tool. I could go on with examples from other vendors, but you get the point.

Blockbuster corporate failing a patch with there EBIZ app. lol 2 days for 1 patch.

Let us place the blame at the source: the U.S. Congress for passing the legislation that started this whole mess.

While I agree many software vendors have fallen short in addressing the issue, the problem would not exist if the change were not implemented to begin with.

And to think, this year is a trial run. Congress may decide to change things back and we have to go through all of this again.

Typical politicians!!! They don't have a clue!

BTW, here is a great resource for DST issues:

SANS Internet Storm Center
http://isc.sans.org

As expected, on my single WinXP machine, DST was a nonevent, and appropriately changed.

Two thumbs down to Congress for passing the change, and to President Bush for signing it.

It seems to me that 2 YEARS is sufficient lead time. I could argue the competence and motives of our elected representatives at any level with the best of you, but credit where credit is due. The Software Vendors and Industry in general had plenty of time to get a solution together and Blew It Off!

I do agree that M$ is sending the message "We don't care about you" to much of their Install Base at a most inopportune time. Vista seems to be sending the same message, but maybe it's just me. I will be interested to see if this message is received and understood or ignored as it has been so many times in the past.

I think it's fair as GaryB notes to say that Microsoft is sending a message. The telegraphed sub-text is that the current Windows release is what gets the consumer-easy support.

Still, I would wonder how far a computer software maker should go in leveraging new product sales in this context.

As a side note, I have revised the supporting text for my previously referenced technique of using a Windows XP system to set the time on Windows 98 and Windows 2000 systems to incorporate the TZEdit.Exe utility. I found that on at least one Windows 2000 system the TZEdit.Exe adjustment was necessary to get the approach to work. For details please see:
http://tinyurl.com/2tmovc

Please note that the limits I previously suggested on who might use the approach also still apply to the revised procedure referenced in this post.