Vista - vista and GMT

On Mar 28, 7:41 pm, "Tom Porterfield" <tppor...@mvps.org> wrote:
> "pbx" <pbei...@gmail.com> wrote in message
>
> news:1175112743.763933.149210@e65g2000hsc.googlegroups.com...
>
>
>
> > that's a pretty good explanation but...
>
> > are saying that GMT is now +1 in London because London "sprang
> > forward" to summer time.
>
> Well, yes and no. GMT is GMT and does not change with DST or what they call
> Summer Time. But the GMT+-0 timezone for London does change. It is
> important to make the distiction that the GMT timezone for London is not
> GMT.
>
> > but then is:
>
> >http://wwp.greenwichmeantime.com/
>
> > wrong?
>
> No, it is correct. But remember, during Summer time, the time in Greenwich
> or London is not GMT but actually GMT(+1). Vista is showing timezones, not
> GMT. So when you select the timezone for Greenwich, it applies the DST or
> Summer Time offset when adjusting the clock. Since Casablanca does not
> switch to DST or Summer Time, that is why it's GMT is an hour different than
> Greenwich's GMT.
>
> > is there no absolute concept of GMT? http://wwp.greenwichmeantime.com/
> > matches the Casablanca setting.
> > Also the .NET Framework 2.0 (DateTime.UtcNow) running on the same
> > Vista machine reports GMT to match the Casablanca setting.
>
> That is because .NET is using the GMT time, not the timezone for Greenwich.
> In other words, it doesn't worry about applying any DST offset to the base
> since true GMT never changes in that manner. It does apply the DST offset
> to your local timezone.
>
> > seems to me that GMT is GMT and London is now +1 GMT... so if the
> > Vista setting was London it would be correct... but it starts off
> > saying that its GMT (or is GMT <> UTC?)
>
> You've got it. The only thing I'll add is that what it is showing is the
> GMT offset, not GMT. And since for London there is no offset it just shows
> GMT rather than GMT-8 or similar. But that displayed offset doesn't include
> any variance for seasonal clock changes. So for your current Pacific
> timezone you're not really currently GMT-8 but more appropriately GMT-8(+1).
> And London is currently GMT(+1). Casablanca is currently GMT. The display
> doesn't change based on seasonal time changes because that is not how
> timezones are defined, but it is something that has to be taken into
> consideration when calculating the difference in time between two timezones.
> --
> Tom Porterfield

Tom-

thanks, this all makes sense now as Microsoft is indeed presenting
"time zones", which vary based on DST.

the problem is with the labelling... they call the London time zone:

"(GMT) Greenwich Mean Time: Dublin, Edinburgh, Lisbon, London"

perhaps they should just use the offset notation...

e.g.,

"GMT (+0:00): Dublin, Edinburgh, etc."

and wouldn't it be nice, then, if there was a way to display plain 'ol
simple UTC?