As if no lessons were learned by the impacts of DST changes to North America earlier this year, the government of Argentina decided on December 21, 2007 to implement Daylight Saving Time rules for the first time since 2000. These changes are set to be in effect on December 30, 2007, just nine days after the decision was made by the Dodo’s in the Argentine government. Are they, as a country, really that flexible, or do they simply have the impression that the rest of the world does not notice nor care about the eighth largest country on the planet?
The current time zone for Buenos Aires, Argentina and Georgetown, Guyana is SA Eastern Standard Time, which does not recognize any Daylight Saving Time rules. Guyana will remain on this time zone, although Argentina will move to a new time zone, appropriately named Argentina Standard Time.
Daylight Saving Time begins: Sunday, December 30th, 2007 at 00:00 AM
Daylight Saving Time ends: Sunday, March 16th, 2008 at 00:00 AM
As far as the all-important technical impact that the Argentine government apparently failed to recognize as a factor in their decision, here’s what we know for major applications and platforms:
Windows: Microsoft does not have an updated Windows DST patch for the Argentina changes. Workaround: Adjust the registry to add the new time zone and reflect changes for the current time zone (see link below).
Exchange: Microsoft does not have an updated CDO.DLL patch for the Argentina changes. Workaround: None.
Outlook/Exchange Calendar: The Microsoft Office Outlook Tool can be used to update calendar appointments to use the new time zone. Note: The registry changes mentioned above for the Windows section will need to be applied first, as the Outlook Tool pulls it’s data from the local system registry.
BlackBerry Enterprise Server: See notes on Exchange above, as CDO.DLL will be the point of fault on BES. Workaround: None.
BlackBerry Devices: RIM has a case open with their software development group, but there is no current ETR for a device patch or SQL update for time zone table synchronization. Calendar appointments should be expected to be off by one hour during the DST period. Workaround: Change the time on the device up by one hour (12:00 AM becomes 1:00 AM).
