Ubuntu affecting Windows XP clock

[Stuart Bishop]

Matt Zimmerman wrote:

> Have you tried to install Windows on a system with Linux on it?  The RTC is
> the least of your worries.  Windows has never attempted to coexist with
> another OS.

vmware installation? wine?

>>You don't allow for _other_ operating systems. Some people still use OS/2.
> 
> 
> The solution described in the bug allows for arbitrary operating systems, as
> long as we can reasonably guess what they expect of the clock.

What operating systems store their clock as UTC on Intel platforms? All 
the ones I'm aware of use localtime *for the very reason being discussed 
here*.

>>It doesn't allow for the fact that peecees are generally shipped with 
>>the clock set to local time (mine or manufacturers I can't be sure). 
>>I've never seen one set to UTC.
> 
> The initial time set on the board at the factory is irrelevant, _especially_
> if it's local time, because it's already wrong and needs to be set.

Part of the build/test procedures for desktops and laptops at mid to 
high end suppliers is to set the clock to the customers timezone. I know 
my new DELL arrived set correctly and it was assembled OS (and Mebourne 
doesn't share a timezone with any likely country).

Having read this thread, I have yet to read a single reason why UTC is 
good and localtime is bad apart from some vague sense of foreboding 
around DST transition times. If my bios is anything to go by, isn't this 
stored as an epoch time and a dst flag making dst transitions 
unambiguous? Windows has got it right since late Windows95 anyway.

-- 
Stuart Bishop <stuart.bishop at canonical.com>   http://www.canonical.com/
Canonical Ltd.                                http://www.ubuntulinux.com/