[aprssig] Re: Windows US Daylight Time Change Screwup Looming

[Rich Mulvey]

Mark Fellhauer wrote:
> At 04:40 PM 2/3/2007, Stephen H. Smith wrote:
>
>> Ever since Windows 95,  Microsoft Windows has been able to 
>> automatically adjust the computer system clock for daylight time each 
>> spring and fall.
>>
>> Effective this year, U.S. Daylight Time will start 3 weeks earlier 
>> (1st week of March instead of beginning of April), . As a result, the 
>> automatic time change feature in Windows won't happen until 3 weeks 
>> after the fact.  As a result, files will be time-stamped with an 
>> error of one hour for three weeks or more.
>
>
> Let us not forget about all the embedded devices that automatically 
> adjust for DST.  I predict that when this change happens elevators 
> will plunge passengers to their deaths, airplanes will fall from the 
> sky, supertankers will run aground and explode, phone, TV, and banking 
> networks will collapse, and people will riot.  On the morning of 
> Sunday, March 11, 2007 The worlds largest cities will be in flames and 
> humanity as we know it will end.
>
> At least that's what the "experts" told us about the Y2K bug.   I 
> wonder if those are the same experts who are now warning us about 
> global warming?
>

    Not to rain on your parade too much, but the reason why Y2K turned 
out to be a non-event was because the experts were right, and millions 
of man-hours were expended on fixing the problems.  If they hadn't, I 
can guarantee with personal knowledge that a few million customers of 
some rather large financial institutions would have had some 
extraordinarily unpleasant surprises in the weeks and months coming up 
to Y2K.  Afterwards, they would *really* have had some bad days, unless 
they had large sums of money hidden in their mattresses.

    It always astounds me how many people point to Y2K as an example of 
"experts blowing things out of proportion because nothing happened" - 
when the reason that nothing  significant happened was because a huge 
legitimate problem was recognized, identified, and fixed in time.  I 
can't speak to the effect on other industries, but I can guarantee that 
people would have noticed when all of their retirement plan money and 
other savings magically disappeared.

- Rich