By Daniel R. Matlis
On February 13, I wrote about Y2K7, so I thought it would be a good idea to heed my own advice and get ready for DST.
I was pretty sure that I could take care of the issue in short order. After all, how hard can it be to download a few patches from the Microsoft website, install them on a handful of windows machines and update a BlackBerry?
I was confident that a couple of engineering degrees and almost 17 years of work experience around computers would make it a cinch.
I try not to complain in my articles, but in this case, I hope you will indulge me for the educational value.
I began the process by installing the latest windows updates, which includes “Windows Genuine Advantage”, a tool which according to Microsoft “helps customers all over the world who are victims of software piracy get genuine”.
That was easy enough and I thought that would solve all my Microsoft DST issues.
I went on with my day and scheduled an appointment for next Monday March 12th (the first weekday post Y2K7). To my surprise, my appointments were off by an hour.
I after additional research on the Microsoft website I found the “Prepare Outlook calendar items for daylight saving time changes in 2007” page. The folks at Microsoft were nice enough to develop a self assessment tool that guides you though the upgrade process. It then proceeds to sends updates to everyone you have appointments with of the time change. This is useful if you have colleagues outside of the US who are not affected by US DST changes.
That wasn’t too bad. It took a few more steps than I expected, but within my level of tolerance.
I then proceeded to upgrade my Blackberry. I went to the Verizon site and was directed to the BlackBerry site. At the blackberry site I found the following message:
Correct the time on the BlackBerry device
Option 1: Manually change the time in Options-Date/Time
• Move the time forward 1 hour on 11 March 2007, and then back 1 hour on 1 April 2007
• Move the time forward 1 hour on 28 October 2007, and then back 1 hour on 4 November 2007
Option 2: Apply the appropriate patch to the BlackBerry® device as per Impact to BlackBerry Devices except only the “User Initiated” patching applies (not administrator pushed).
Option 1 was not really an alternative for me, so I called Verizon to find out what was the version of the “Appropriate Patch” to apply for Option 2. FYI, if you end up on a version of the device software that is not supported by your carrier, they disown you and will not be able to assist you if you have technical issues.
My call was answered by Chris. I explain the situation and he asked if he put me on hold for a few minutes while he researched the issue. Upon his return, he informed me that he did not know the latest supported version, but he could help me though the upgrade process. I could hear the rustling of papers in the background and I should have known right away that it was going to be one of those calls. You know, the one were the tech walks you though all the steps on his procedure verbatim and with little or no common sense. As Voltaire said, “common sense it not so common”.
During the course of 2 hours I was ping-ponged between Verizon and Blackberry. After speaking with a supervisor, my blackberry finally read “2007 DST Patch Applied”
The lesson: don’t underestimate the time it will take to prepare for the DST change.
By know most IT departments have updated servers and networked applications, but don’t forget about those standalone applications and systems.
I have to go now to check if there is a patch for my Digital Video Recorder. I will be very upset if it does not record Battlestar Galactica on Sunday.
See you in Y2K7+1.