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Changes to daylight saving time in Russia for 2011: third party resources & guidance

A question from the virtual mailbag today…

"I know that you have released guidance on Microsoft products and services for the end to Summer Time in Russia. But what about other products in our stack?"

Good question.

Here are the responses I’m aware of today.

Blackberry: To find the latest DST updates available for BlackBerry, navigate to the BlackBerry Knowledge Base (http://btsc.webapps.blackberry.com/btsc/microsites/microsite.do)  Enter the Search term “daylight savings time” and Sort By: Publication Date. RIM has established a release schedule of Spring and Fall that matches Microsoft’s cycle closely.  Enterprise customers are advised by their Support Account Managers when a new DST patch is released.  Customers are also able to receive interim updates that can be deployed to devices by the “Script method” before the spring or fall scheduled release. 

I’ll add other links to this page as we’re aware of them, and list them on the "Other Resources" tab on our Daylight Saving Time Help and Support Center. In the past, we saw good information from many different companies as I noted here. Likely you should be able to find guidance from your device and system providers.

 

Tags: Microsoft, Daylight Saving Time, Daylight Savings Time, RSS, DST, Russia

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DON’T Turn Back the Clock: Microsoft Provides Resources for Change in Daylight Saving Time in Russia

Early this morning, I posted on the Microsoft Corporate blog about our efforts to inform our customers and partners on our activities related to the end of daylight saving time in the Russian Federation, a change noted earlier this year. For our customers and partners worldwide, this means there are some things to be aware of and in some cases work to do to prepare for this change. (long link: http://blogs.technet.com/b/microsoft_blog/archive/2011/09/29/don-t-turn-back-the-clock-microsoft-provides-resources-for-change-in-daylight-saving-time-in-russia.aspx).

As you may know from my prior posts on the subject, Russia has decided to cancel daylight saving time (DST) in the country and will not “fall back” to Russian Standard Time this fall. The country will no longer have to make the twice-a-year changes to their clocks in the future. And while the elimination of DST directly affects those living in Russia, given the size and impact of the Russian market, the ramifications are global. At Microsoft, we’re stepping up work with our customers and partners to address the impact on users’ computers and servers.

By the way, an important note:  the rules for daylight saving time remain in effect and the same in the United States and Canada, as well as for many other countries that use DST and “Summer Time” over the summer months. The latest changes are noted in my post here, and cals out the exception that is Newfoundland (as the DST start time and end time for Newfoundland Standard Time [Display Name “(UTC-3:30) Newfoundland”] has been updated from 12:01 A.M. to 2:00 A.M.).

In the post, there’s information for consumers (chances are they already have the needed updates via WU)…

So what should you do to make sure that your computers are ready for the change?

If you use Microsoft Update on your PC at home, chances are you’re already covered. The latest update – the August 2011 Cumulative Time Zone Update for Windows – may already be installed on your PC if you have turned on Automatic Update in Windows. This ensures you’ll get the latest security and other important updates from Microsoft automatically. This latest update includes the changes for Russia as well as other worldwide changes (including Turkey, Egypt, Morocco, Fiji, Samoa and Newfoundland). If you’re not sure if the update has been applied, visit the Microsoft Update site for more information.

If someone manages your network at work, it’s likely the needed updates are schedule to be deployed to your computers and devices, if they haven’t been installed already.

For IT professionals managing PCs, servers and Microsoft software installations, please visit http://www.microsoft.com/time for more details. Also, visit the support websites of any other software companies to see if you need to apply any updates. It’s not just Microsoft software that may require updates.

The calls to action for IT Pros to visit the corporate site for more details and to attend one of the upcoming webcasts to help prepare for these changes and to learn more. We’re offering a series of new webcasts to help customers and organizations preparing for daylight saving time, particularly these new changes in Russia, beginning on Oct. 3rd. This is part of our “step-by-step” program on making the DST transition. Geared toward IT professionals, we’ll walk through a general overview of DST and the impacts and solutions for Windows, Outlook and Exchange. To find a list of these upcoming webcasts, visit http://www.microsoft.com/time.

Webcasts start up on October 3rd and will offer more guidance to IT Pros on the impacts and solutions for many of our software and services offerings. For more information on DST and a list of the upcoming webcasts, visit Microsoft Daylight Saving Time Help and Support Center (http://www.microsoft.com/time). There you’ll find links to updates for various products in support affected by this change, as well as other various changes to DST offsets and time zones around the world. Additionally, the team in Microsoft Russia provides specific details and guidance in country at http://support.microsoft.com/gp/cp_dst/ru

 

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Announcement: Microsoft webcasts on DST changes in Russia: Oct 3rd & 6th

We’re doing another series of webcasts next week to help customers and organizations preparing for daylight saving time, particularly the new changes in Russia this year. This is part of our “step-by-step” program on making the DST transition. Geared toward IT Professionals, we’ll walk through a general overview of DST and the impacts and solutions for Windows, Outlook and Exchange.

Understanding and preparing for 2011 Russian Daylight Savings Time Change (VIR71CAL)

October 3rd at 4:00PM PDT
Click here to register for the webcast. You can login with existing Academy Live username and password or click “Register Now” to join for the first time.

Presented By:
M3 Sweatt, Partner, Program Management, Microsoft
Matthew Brown, Senior Program Manager, Microsoft
Mike DeGooyer, Senior Program Manager, Microsoft
Bala Sivakumar, Program Manager, Microsoft
Ron Ragsdale, Program Manager, Microsoft
Jenny Liu, Program Manager, Microsoft

Session Overview: In 2011, the Russian government adopted a law to cancel Daylight Saving Time (DST). As a result, Russia will not “fall back” to Winter time. This webcast will discuss the implications of that decision and what Microsoft is doing to mitigate those implications for our Customers and Partners.

Level: 200

Microsoft Customer Information

Before the Webcast: Please ensure you have downloaded the latest version of Microsoft Office Live Meeting 2007. For an overview of the Microsoft Office Live Meeting 2007 platform and features, please view the Getting Started guide here.

You’ll find a list of these upcoming webcasts on our DST & TZ site at http://www.microsoft.com/time.  We also include a few archived, on-demand webcasts available here: http://support.microsoft.com/gp/dst_webcasts.

We’ll also host a second webcast next week to accomodate customers and partners in earlier time zones on October 6th at 7:00AM PDT. We’ll be providing login information for this Live Webcast shortly on the DST Webcasts Page of http://www.microsoft.com/time.

Tags: Microsoft, Daylight Saving Time, Daylight Savings Time, RSS, DST, Russia

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Microsofties: When it comes to Tweeting, be thoughtful

For all you ‘softies a reminder: please watch what you tweet and share in the social mediashpere about meetings or any Microsoft event.

I posted this about tweeting: remember to be thoughtful. 

donttweet

And did this one over the summer…

dont discuss rumours_sm

Always nice to catch up on industry news from good folks like Mary Jo Foley, just don’t be the news. 😉

Tags: Microsoft, travel tips.

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Get Outlook 2010 SP1 for displaying two separate time zones in the Calendar

Want another reason to install Outlook 2010 SP1?

In Outlook, you can display two separate time zones in the Calendar. This allows you to see your local time zone and the time zone of a city that you often travel to. When you travel to that other time zone, you can use the Swap Time Zones option to change the position of the time bar in the Calendar. Using the Swap Time Zones option in Outlook 2010 results in unexpected behavior.

This issue is fixed in Outlook 2010 SP1 and Microsoft recommends that customers download and install this service pack to avoid this problem. Customer who have not yet installed Outlook 2010 SP1 can find a work around for this issue in Outlook 2010 in the KB Article 2507003 Using Outlook 2010 Swap Time Zones to switch from non-DST to DST Time Zone does not enable DST in Windows.

Tags: Microsoft, Daylight Saving Time, Daylight Savings Time, RSS, DST, Russia, Outlook

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