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Microsoft Looks to Improve on Daylight Savings Time Shift
Published: September 12, 2007
by Alex Woodie
Like most operating system vendors, Microsoft helped customers deal with the new U.S. law changing when Daylight Savings Time (DST) goes into and out of effect. While things went OK in March, the software giant sees room for improvement in helping customers deal with the end of DST on November 4.
When DST went into effect three weeks earlier than usual this spring, Microsoft delivered free tools designed to help users, particularly Exchange Server and Outlook users, deal with the change. The company also set up a DST support center at support.microsoft.com/gp/cp_dst to help them answer any other questions.
While the Web site was well received, other things could have been handled better, according to Rich Kaplan, who holds the title of "vice president of supportability and customer and partner experience" at Microsoft.
"There are a number of key things that we learned," Kaplan says in a PressPass Q&A. "When you have a situation that impacts multiple products--and in our case there were changes for Windows, Exchange, Outlook and other products--it creates a very complex scenario for IT customers. We have to be better at addressing these types of situations."
In particular, Microsoft will need to improve its international support when DST ends in about seven weeks. According to Kaplan, several countries, including Jordan, Egypt, and New Zealand, will delay the end of DST, as per the new U.S. law. That means Microsoft will be making changes to the localized versions of its products, and customers in those areas will need to download them.
Customers interested in learning more about the changes can participate in a Webinar planned for Friday. For more information on DST changes and the Webinar, visit support.microsoft.com/gp/cp_dst.
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