The last one, about hardware stopping function is a real killer. I teach some emergency communications classes. Smart people who just need exposure, digging into their computers a bit to have their systems run. Much of the software is on multiple platforms, but most use Windows 11. Back when Windows 7 was in its heyday, it took two class sessions to get everyone running, then we'd delve into the details of the software. Windows 10 wasn't too much of a problem, after some weird audio driver issues were ironed out.

Windows 11? It was a disaster. Took several sessions to get things working, then an update would come along and bollix things up. Sometimes even during class sessions, someone's computer would stop working. Seemed almost random at times. The question asked was "What if I need to pass data and forms, and the computer suddenly stops working". Good question. The answer was you don't. So after a few months, never getting to the details of using the software, Me running the software on my Mac so I didn't have to join the dysfunctional fun, the guys and gals really wanted to try Linux, especially since one of the ladies was already a Mac and Linux guru. We disbanded for a while to put together a new class plan.

The results? Two classes and everything ran. It stayed running. The aforementioned woman helped, and we accomplished every task in a short time. Created a new batch of Linux lovers. Even had some starting to enjoy installation from source, as they found out a lot of the anti-linux stuff was just propaganda.

tl;dr When the state of W11 is for all intents malfunctioning, sometimes ya gotta start using an alternative.

Yes, and of course, with the longitudinal areas varying in east to west length, and north to south as you note, in a sort of jumble, so in some places there is quite a difference in sunrise and sunset over the lower latitudes, and eventually nothing at the poles, but the lower latitudes don't matter as much - we can end up with a hella headache! Spherical trig anyone?

We can use Universal time - I do a lot, but it still has to be correlated with local time, especially since some places it is tomorrow at times, still today here. The complications of a connected globe I suppose. tl;dr - the people who came up with DST were not stupid. Not remotely. They knew whatever system they came up with was a compromise. But they knew enough that it was needed.

Permanent DST is one of those topics that strains credulity. Some crew, usually those nearer the equator, know for an absolute fact that the worst idea ever foisted on humanity was DST, as there is not, nor has there ever been a need for it. It is their personal unassailable truth. Because the daylight and dark times of the day don't change much over the year, no one needs to ever change the time, anywhere for any reason.

Others, living at higher latitudes, have a deep experienced understanding just how much an adjustment is needed, because of the wild swings in daylight and night in those regions.

And some others among us realize the need for it at those higher latitudes, based on the physics of the situation, and find that going on permanent DST is like thinking we can make a piece of cloth longer by cutting off the bottom and sewing it to the top.

Finally, let's not forget that during the early 1970's oil embargo, the US did go on permanent DST. Most of the public hated it. Didn't save anything either, just changed the times of energy use. We dropped it like an unredacted Epstein file. Even now there are people demanding not permanent DST, but permanent Standard time. This is one of the never-ending topics that deserves ridicule.

Not for nothing, there is one country on Permanent DST, the Russian Federation.

A decent point. It seems however, that Windows will soon be running Office 365, and not much else.

Were there 500 security updates a month after there were 200 updates? I have Linux Mint as well as Raspbian, and keep track up updates. Perhaps I didn't count correctly.

And no where did I say that MacOS and Linux don't have security flaws. There is no perfectly secure OS. If can be written, it can be compromised. But to suggest that Windows is the equal of the other two, well, that needs a whole lot of proof.

You mean the famous Microsoft bloat? That's a feature I guess.

So the last couple years of destroyed functionality, are suddenly going to end, and we'll have the secure OS they've been telling us is the most secure and it'll be puppy dogs and rainbows?

Meanwhile, the presumably insecure MacOS and Linux don't seem to have this issue. I'll believe it when the other Os' end up gone, and Microsoft is so secure, all the AV providers go out of business.

Does it even matter any more? It is the Microsoft way, and their "patches" tend to just turn needed things off. Meanwhile the faithful can continue the claims that Microsoft is every bit as secure as any other OS out there.

Anyone want to claim that MacOS and Linux are security through obscurity?

The problem with Microsoft's "security" updates that they turn off features that many programs need. The ain't security, that's just a march toward the only programs workingare the ones Microsoft sells you. And they aren't secure either.

When I see the many solutions offered in here, it becomes clear that everyone should have their own personal time. 8^)

To be serious, I would hope most people in here would admit we need a Universal time (I've had a few conversations with people who see no need for it.

So it is also reasonable to understand that the earth being an oblate spheroid that rotates on a spherical axis around a light giving star is going to have a constantly changing day/night cycle with a rate of change from very small near latitude Zero, to huge at latitude 90, with varying shifts of Daylight/Dark as the planet rotates on its tilted axis in its journey around the sun.

Other than Universal time, which completely ignores the Dark/Light cycle, the latitude based seasonal differences incurred by the physics of the situation, the diurnal nature of humans shaped by millions of years of evolution, there is simply no one size fits all solution.

So yes, any and all solutions for time is a compromise. the Daylight savings Time solution is one of those solutions. It makes sense for those who work outside at the higher latitudes during the summer. Permanent DST will make an issue for those in the same situation during the winter. If they require daylight, they will need to alter their work schedules. And indeed, that is forcing some to have an ever changing workday.

Standard time was compromise, it's all a compromise.

Right, because your personal situation must be forced on the rest of the world. Everyone needs their own personal time. Making the world have time zones, and DST/Standard time is Nanny State government overreach. If I say it is 3 PM while others say it is 2 in the morning, IT is my personal truth!

I don't know about them being willfully ignorant - perhaps just a little dull? I've had discussions with people in here who think when it is light where they are, it is light everywhere around the globe - so why not just make it the same time everywhere. Or people who acknowledge there is a globe, with day/night cycles, but believe that their day/night cycles be the universal work/not work times. Sounds specious, but a lot of people have a solipsistic worldview.

In my work, I need to know both UTC and local times around the world.

You are 100 percent correct. The earth is an Oblate spheroid, rotating around a tilted axis, orbiting a star. There is no perfect day/night/time cycle, nor can there be. DST/ST is a fair compromise. I fear people think that it will be light until 9:00 P.M. in December. when in reality they will drive home in teh dark instead of driving to work in the dark.

As I've patiently described to many, the closer to the equator, the less Daylight savings time makes, because the axis tilt near the latitude axis makes light/dark hour of the day differences less extreme.

But as the latitude increases, the shift becomes more extreme. Here in Pennsylvania, right now, the sun is setting around 8:45 P.M. so it's useable light until ~ 9, and it is getting light around 5:00 A.M.

Wintertime, the times of daylight shrink a lot. So what we'll do is simply trade darkness from one end of the workday to the other. Which is a lot like wanting to make a piece of clothes longer by cutting the top off and sewing it onto the bottom.

Don't like driving home from work in the dark in the winter? Okay, but permanent DST means you only traded that for driving to work in the dark.

This 1 hour Daylight Savings time is a pitiful excuse and example of liberal claptrap! We need to have our leaders take the real vote. As the Trump flags tell us NO MORE BULLSHIT we deserve nothing less than 24 hour daylight. We are in a new age of perfect governance, and we can force the sun to stop taking the night off. 24 7/365 sunshine across the earth in all places.

We have the political will, we have the military might, make it happen. Nuke the sun if it doesn't comply/

Gotta admit, 99 percent of his posts indicate a fixation on one single thing. And that is an actual issue for some people. The term "Psychological Fixation" is a rigid and persistent preoccupation with an idea, object, person, that resists changing even when it no longer serves any useful purpose. Ideation fixed on repeat, as it were. Not untrue sometimes, but consuming the mind of the sufferer.

Interesting question - what would AI generated IT be like?