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A bug or not a bug
To a user, a bug has occurred when they get into a situation where the program does something other than what the user expects.

There are two ways to fix a bug -- either change what the program is doing to conform to what the user expects or change what the user expects to conform to what the program does.

For example, let's say I gave you a program that computed 1 + 1 and returned 10. You would likely say "Aha, that's obviously a bug! The answer should be 2." (or something to that effect.)

I then show you the documentation that indicates that the program returns the result of the addition as a binary number. The result of the program hasn't changed, but if you understand binary numbers you no longer think this result is a bug.

Users expect programs that rely upon the correct date and time to handle Daylight Savings Time correctly. Previously, they expected their computers to change the time on certain days. Now they expect their computers to change the time on different days, and they won't. That's a bug. It's not one that was introduced by the programmers, but that doesn't matter. It needs to be fixed, and that will require code changes (or getting Congress to change DST back to its original dates, which would change user expectation.)
Posted by: Wybaar   Posted on: 02/16/07 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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Microsoft missed goodwill opportunity re. DST  A.Typical Zork | 02/16/07
Who uses Windows 2000 anymore?  HypnoToad72 | 02/16/07
Plenty of people...  Wolfie2K3 | 02/20/07
Microsoft do not do good will gestures  whisperycat | 02/16/07
Do you find setting a clock  No_Ax_to_Grind | 02/16/07
So is Apple  No_Ax_to_Grind | 02/16/07
Re: So is Apple  yyuko@... | 02/16/07
Where is the Apple patch  mlindl | 02/16/07
Re: Where is the Apple patch  yyuko@... | 02/16/07
Perspective  Richard Flude | 02/16/07
Thank you  yyuko@... | 02/16/07
You can make the change manually  PB_z | 02/16/07
So will companies have a snit every time some politician changes the DST?!  HypnoToad72 | 02/16/07
Like the Y2K crap, this is nothing.  No_Ax_to_Grind | 02/16/07
"nothing" - ONLY because of IT efforts.  ejhonda | 02/16/07
Y2K is a different beast. DST is easily solved:  HypnoToad72 | 02/16/07
Yeah, setting a clock is a killer  No_Ax_to_Grind | 02/16/07
er...  Mike (not Cox) | 02/16/07
Duh...  No_Ax_to_Grind | 02/16/07
re: Duh...  yyuko@... | 02/16/07
Read the title of your first post in this thread  Mike (not Cox) | 02/16/07
then say so  CobraA1 | 02/16/07
BOOM!!! YOU HIT THE NAIL ON THE HEAD!!  itanalyst | 02/16/07
actually updating an exchange environment...  JoeMama_z | 02/16/07
Not it's not 'nothing'  rapson | 02/16/07
Yes it's 'something'  yyuko@... | 02/16/07
You are ignoring one important factor  NonZealot | 02/16/07
Apple patches are different than OS upgrades.  Mr_Dave | 02/16/07
It's not a bug  magcomment | 02/16/07
Correct  Mike (not Cox) | 02/16/07
A bug or not a bug  Wybaar | 02/16/07
Programming 101: Don't hardcode stuff  CobraA1 | 02/16/07
Programming Real World: Don't over engineer.  Yensi717 | 02/16/07
amateur correct in a way  mighetto | 02/16/07
Kill DST!!  techboy_z | 02/16/07
You want to live in Arizona  mighetto | 02/16/07
I'd prefer  Jack-Booted EULA | 02/16/07
question and useful link  andrewe2@... | 02/16/07
I don't know if you need the patch....  JoeMama_z | 02/16/07
Makes little sense  Mr. Big | 02/16/07
No.  mobrien_12@... | 02/17/07
Get over it - USA != the world  Fred Fredrickson | 02/18/07
re: Get over it USA  rregier@... | 02/20/07
Population Doesn't Mean Nothing  rkuhn040172@... | 02/20/07
because  Psyjack | 03/09/07
There are solutions out there.  osreinstall | 02/18/07
Heres a nice solution to DST 2007  ralderton | 02/20/07
nicer solution  Psyjack | 03/09/07
Win XP Patch & Outlook Don't mix  tomscot2 | 02/23/07
Wake up to the 'daylight-saving' bug  celticknotter | 02/25/07
Tool for patching NT 4 and Windows 2000  davidlsharpe@... | 02/25/07
Tool for unsupported versions of Windows  davidlsharpe@... | 02/26/07
DST=Political gain  vger_z | 03/09/07

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