New Zealand/Mac OS X daylight saving conundrum part 2
Apple's solution may cause more problems that in solves.
Yesterday we noted that in the second half of 2007, New Zealand will begin 27 weeks of Daylight Saving Time. "This means that clocks will be set forward to Daylight Saving time on Sunday 30-September-2007, instead of on the first Sunday in October as in previous years." This will cause Mac OS X systems in New Zealand to display the wrong time after September 30th.
We also noted a manual fix from Apple, as well as a small software patch that more aptly resolves the issue.
MacFixIt reader David Empson has now provided some more detaialed information on this issue, summarized in an article published on the Wellington Macintosh Society's Web site. Of particular note: Apple's proposed workaround of setting the clock ahead an hour will cause problems with any software that needs to know about UTC vs local time, such as iCal, and will cause the computer to report an incorrect time for everywhere else in the world (e.g. in Dashboard clocks showing time in other countries).
Empson also provides technical details of what exactly is done by the aforementioned patch, concluding:
"The best solution would be if Apple releases a patch or system update prior to September 30th. Failing that, you can avoid most problems by installing a third-party patch (such as Glenn's) prior to September 30th. If a patch or system update is installed, please re-check all the times for events in iCal for the week of September 30th to October 6th, as you may find events you already entered have shifted ahead by an hour."
Feedback? Late-breakers@macfixit.com.
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