14 DAY TRIAL // The Australian computers and intelligent devices are expected to be seriously affected by a semi-Y2K issue, that will put out of sync the internal clocks on computers, smart-phones and corporate servers. The synchronization troubles are caused by the new daylight saving time regulations imposed across the south-eastern Australia.
As of this year, the daylight saving in NSW, Victoria, ACT, Tasmania and South Australia will end one week later than until now. The decision was taken to bring the daylight saving dates as close as possible across the whole continent, as well as to give Australians more daylight hours.
However, given the fact that the vast majority of intelligent electronic appliances come with built-in internal clocks to help them automatically adjust the hour according to the daylight saving time, this year's adjustments will be merely incorrect.
While the misreported date and time would cause users to miss some appointments scheduled using office software, corporations and enterprises are much more affected. BlackBerry devices, payroll and stock trading software are still operating using the old settings.
Microsoft has already released an update pack for the Windows, Outlook and Windows Mobile products users that is alleged to automatically perform the necessary adjustments.
"The synchronization [issue] is not exclusive to Microsoft products. It affects all devices that update automatically according to the old daylight saving schedule," Microsoft's customer and partner experience director, Hugh Jones, said.
According to IDC analyst Liam Gunson, the problems can be completely avoided if people are aware of the situation. Manually setting the clock to match the daylight saving time specifications will also solve the potential issues.
"It was really just a matter of education and people knowing that they need to download a certain patch or look at their IT systems and it appears that most people did," he said.