Spring Forward Early This Year!

For the last 20 years, we've been springing forward and falling back on the first Sunday in April and the last Sunday in October. 2007 brings a change. The change takes effect this year, on March 11, and it has angered many (me) and delighted others. I am personally a fan of the short days during the cool weather. Who wants to be bundled up in front of a fireplace when it's still daylight out?

Either way, thousands of technicians are scrambling to make sure countless automated systems switch their clocks at the right moment. Unless changed by one method or another, many systems will remain programmed to read the calendar and start daylight saving time on its old date in April, not its new one in March.

It's one thing to arrive an hour late for church on the first day of daylight saving. It's another for pilots to misunderstand their takeoff times or international communications to be mixed up.

As IBM notes on its Web site: "Any time-sensitive functions could be impacted by this change. . . . It is important for users to assess their environments and develop appropriate plans for applying the necessary changes."

Many companies are not even aware of the March 11 change. Many are taking a more casual attitude saying that if we made it through Y2K, we can make it through this. If we can't, I highly doubt the future of this country's advancements in technology.

For most commonly used devices, automatic updates should be easy. Cellphones should flash the correct date and time because they get such information from their service providers' networks. Similarly, the Internet will automatically update clocks on many personal computers that use relatively up-to-date software.

Microsoft notes that some of its older products - including Windows XP and NT- will require manual updates. The company's Web site provides detailed instructions on how to update various products, although it is pushing against the deadline in some cases. Updates and tools "are being developed and tested," the Web site says, and some will "be released through early March 2007."