Mar 5, 2007 7:27 pm US/Eastern
Is Early Daylight Savings The Next Y2K Scare?
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(CBS4)
It's still spring ahead and fall back, but with the clocks springing ahead about 2 weeks early this year, there are growing fears it could cause some unexpected problems.
The idea is simple enough. We get an extra hour of daylight to run, ride, and play, but the early change may cause more problems than most people expect.
"We can see problems with airline reservation systems going down at the wrong time, in money transfer," said UCLA professor Leonard Kleinrock.
Moving up the "spring forward" date could mean confusion for anything made to adjust on the old daylight saving time switch in April. Starting this Sunday, professor Kleinrock says, your computer could be off an hour.
Microsoft and Apple are issuing updates to newer operating systems, but people using older systems may have to figure it out themselves.
Even the most sophisticated technology can get tripped up by a time change. Six of America's newest fighter jets, the raptor, recently developed glitches with their navigation
"They cross the international dateline and all systems dumped, an airborne y2k," said military analyst Maj. General Don Sheppard.
If this sounds familiar, that's because most of the world experienced the same troubles and fears leading up to the Y2K scare in 2000. Fortunately, the Y2K bug's bark was definitely worse than its' bite.
Most experts don't see a major threat due to this year's early daylight savings time. As for the "Average Joe", they are just looking forward to the added daylight.
(© MMVII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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