Everything you always wanted to know about Extended Hotfix Support for Daylight Saving Time enrollment but were afraid to ask!
The Microsoft Support Lifecycle team gets lots of questions about Extended Hotfix Support for Daylight Saving Time (EHS for DST). Although this offering was initiated in 2007, there still seems to be some confusion around its purpose and how to obtain it.
In an earlier post we talked about Extended Hotfix Support and its purpose: a program that provides customers with the ability to request non-security hotfixes for products in the Extended Support phase of the lifecycle. EHS for DST is slightly different, but related.
What is the history behind Extended Hotfix Support for Daylight Saving Time? Daylight Saving time (DST), and "Summer Time" in much of Europe, is the practice of moving local time forward one hour in the spring and backwards in the autumn. These spring and fall shifts to DST are different between northern and southern hemispheres. The start of DST in the northern hemisphere is in March or April (depending on the country/continent), and ending in October or November. In the southern hemisphere, the changes are the opposite, with DST beginning in October and ending in March or April. Generally, DST is not observed in Asia and Africa, and parts of Central and South America. Unless certain updates are applied to your computer, the time zone settings for your computer's system clock may be incorrect during this four-week period. In particular, you must make sure that both your Windows operating system and your calendar programs are updated.
Daylight Saving Time hotfixes can be applied to your computer to correct the time zone settings that get “out of synch” because of the DST time changes; and are available for products in the Mainstream phase of the lifecycle free of charge. To obtain DST hotfixes for products in the Extended Support phase, customers must purchase Extended Hotfix Support for Daylight Saving Time. EHS for DST entitles them to receive daylight saving time hotfixes for all affected products in the Extended Support phase. The cost is $4,000 USD and the program is open to all Microsoft MCTS Training customers. A list of affected products is available here.
COMMON QUESTIONS:
When will my Extended Hotfix Support for DST contract expire?
All EHS DST support contracts expire on the 31st of December of the calendar year, so any contract signed during 2008 will expire on December 31, 2008.
After I enroll, how do I get the hotfixes?
Once you enroll you will receive access to the Microsoft Connect web site where you can download the appropriate updates.
My company purchased a Extended Hotfix Support for DST contract in October 2007. I thought the contract was good for 12 months. Do I have to purchase another contract to receive 2008 DST updates?
Your contract ended on December 31, 2007. EHS for DST contracts signed on or after January 1, 2008 will end on the 31st of December of the calendar year in which the contract commences; so you must purchase another contract for 2008.
Additional information can be found here:
* Daylight Savings Time Help and Support Center
* Obtaining Daylight Savings Time Updates for Microsoft MCITP Certification Products
* Microsoft Daylight Savings Time and Timezone FAQs Blog
Let us know if the explanation above helped you better understand Daylight Saving Time Extended Hotfix Support!
Read the views of online Certification Experts, which provide the real questions and correct answer and explanation for the students / professionals who are seeking or enhancing their level of expertise. more at certkingdom.com
July 15, 2010
Everything you always wanted to know about Extended Hotfix Support
Everything you always wanted to know about Extended Hotfix Support for Daylight Saving Time enrollment but were afraid to ask!
The Microsoft Support Lifecycle team gets lots of questions about Extended Hotfix Support for Daylight Saving Time (EHS for DST). Although this offering was initiated in 2007, there still seems to be some confusion around its purpose and how to obtain it.
In an earlier post we talked about Extended Hotfix Support and its purpose: a program that provides customers with the ability to request non-security hotfixes for products in the Extended Support phase of the lifecycle. EHS for DST is slightly different, but related.
What is the history behind Extended Hotfix Support for Daylight Saving Time? Daylight Saving time (DST), and "Summer Time" in much of Europe, is the practice of moving local time forward one hour in the spring and backwards in the autumn. These spring and fall shifts to DST are different between northern and southern hemispheres. The start of DST in the northern hemisphere is in March or April (depending on the country/continent), and ending in October or November. In the southern hemisphere, the changes are the opposite, with DST beginning in October and ending in March or April. Generally, DST is not observed in Asia and Africa, and parts of Central and South America. Unless certain updates are applied to your computer, the time zone settings for your computer's system clock may be incorrect during this four-week period. In particular, you must make sure that both your Windows operating system and your calendar programs are updated.
Daylight Saving Time hotfixes can be applied to your computer to correct the time zone settings that get “out of synch” because of the DST time changes; and are available for products in the Mainstream phase of the lifecycle free of charge. To obtain DST hotfixes for products in the Extended Support phase, customers must purchase Extended Hotfix Support for Daylight Saving Time. EHS for DST entitles them to receive daylight saving time hotfixes for all affected products in the Extended Support phase. The cost is $4,000 USD and the program is open to all Microsoft MCTS Training customers. A list of affected products is available here.
COMMON QUESTIONS:
When will my Extended Hotfix Support for DST contract expire?
All EHS DST support contracts expire on the 31st of December of the calendar year, so any contract signed during 2008 will expire on December 31, 2008.
After I enroll, how do I get the hotfixes?
Once you enroll you will receive access to the Microsoft Connect web site where you can download the appropriate updates.
My company purchased a Extended Hotfix Support for DST contract in October 2007. I thought the contract was good for 12 months. Do I have to purchase another contract to receive 2008 DST updates?
Your contract ended on December 31, 2007. EHS for DST contracts signed on or after January 1, 2008 will end on the 31st of December of the calendar year in which the contract commences; so you must purchase another contract for 2008.
Additional information can be found here:
* Daylight Savings Time Help and Support Center
* Obtaining Daylight Savings Time Updates for Microsoft MCITP Certification Products
* Microsoft Daylight Savings Time and Timezone FAQs Blog
Let us know if the explanation above helped you better understand Daylight Saving Time Extended Hotfix Support!
The Microsoft Support Lifecycle team gets lots of questions about Extended Hotfix Support for Daylight Saving Time (EHS for DST). Although this offering was initiated in 2007, there still seems to be some confusion around its purpose and how to obtain it.
In an earlier post we talked about Extended Hotfix Support and its purpose: a program that provides customers with the ability to request non-security hotfixes for products in the Extended Support phase of the lifecycle. EHS for DST is slightly different, but related.
What is the history behind Extended Hotfix Support for Daylight Saving Time? Daylight Saving time (DST), and "Summer Time" in much of Europe, is the practice of moving local time forward one hour in the spring and backwards in the autumn. These spring and fall shifts to DST are different between northern and southern hemispheres. The start of DST in the northern hemisphere is in March or April (depending on the country/continent), and ending in October or November. In the southern hemisphere, the changes are the opposite, with DST beginning in October and ending in March or April. Generally, DST is not observed in Asia and Africa, and parts of Central and South America. Unless certain updates are applied to your computer, the time zone settings for your computer's system clock may be incorrect during this four-week period. In particular, you must make sure that both your Windows operating system and your calendar programs are updated.
Daylight Saving Time hotfixes can be applied to your computer to correct the time zone settings that get “out of synch” because of the DST time changes; and are available for products in the Mainstream phase of the lifecycle free of charge. To obtain DST hotfixes for products in the Extended Support phase, customers must purchase Extended Hotfix Support for Daylight Saving Time. EHS for DST entitles them to receive daylight saving time hotfixes for all affected products in the Extended Support phase. The cost is $4,000 USD and the program is open to all Microsoft MCTS Training customers. A list of affected products is available here.
COMMON QUESTIONS:
When will my Extended Hotfix Support for DST contract expire?
All EHS DST support contracts expire on the 31st of December of the calendar year, so any contract signed during 2008 will expire on December 31, 2008.
After I enroll, how do I get the hotfixes?
Once you enroll you will receive access to the Microsoft Connect web site where you can download the appropriate updates.
My company purchased a Extended Hotfix Support for DST contract in October 2007. I thought the contract was good for 12 months. Do I have to purchase another contract to receive 2008 DST updates?
Your contract ended on December 31, 2007. EHS for DST contracts signed on or after January 1, 2008 will end on the 31st of December of the calendar year in which the contract commences; so you must purchase another contract for 2008.
Additional information can be found here:
* Daylight Savings Time Help and Support Center
* Obtaining Daylight Savings Time Updates for Microsoft MCITP Certification Products
* Microsoft Daylight Savings Time and Timezone FAQs Blog
Let us know if the explanation above helped you better understand Daylight Saving Time Extended Hotfix Support!
July 14, 2010
Shed stealth and start communicating
Shed stealth and start communicating
Bill Gates had once famously said, “If I was down to my last dollar, I’d spend it on public relations.” Rohit Gupta, co-founder and director, Pragma Communication, agrees and stresses the point that tech firms need to have a sound PR policy in place to succeed today.
What are the communication needs of a tech firm? How important is public relations (PR) in addressing these needs?
The technology landscape has changed over a period of time and has become extremely complex.
A few years ago, good technologies and good products could stand out on their own. But in the current scenario, communication can definitely serve as a competent marketing aid, targeted at keeping things simple, enabling information to be conveyed to interest groups at the right time, and helping differentiate products.
The need for communication is also driven by the business needs the firms may have from time to time. Lobbying or influencing industry bodies may be an active consideration for some who are involved in infrastructure related technologies, like 3G networking. Similarly, companies need to liaison with investors of all kinds. It is important that they keep these agencies posted on the well-being and future prospects of the company and also update them regularly on its returns. Communication plays a key role in establishing and nurturing this relationship.
The need for communication also arises because technology firms are bogged down by high attrition rates and employee churn. There exists an acute requirement for human resources. {quotes}PR can play a vital role in indirectly building employee loyalty and enhancing retention, as well as attracting potential employees towards the technology or the brand.{/quotes}
Recently, a business newspaper reported that owing to the recession, tech firms now have very small marketing budgets, and they prefer to spend it on PR rather than advertising. Could you comment on why this is so? However, FMCG companies like Wills Lifestyle, for instance, might prefer to spend on advertising. Why is the case different for a company in the tech space?
PR and advertising have their respective strengths and weaknesses. These are two parallel forms of communication and act most often as complimentary tools, having a common aim, which is strengthening the brand image and consequently, the net increase in revenue. Choosing between the two depends on what is being communicated and the desired effect that is being aimed at.
I do not believe that there is a difference, with respect to communication methods, between tech companies and FMCG (fast moving consumer goods) companies. The difference, as I see it, lies between the communicating entity and its communication needs at a specific moment.
Wills Lifestyle, for example, is part of the ITC Group and the communication needs for the two entities are different. For Wills Lifestyle, in the given market scenario (when the marketing spends are shrinking) it becomes imperative to maintain focus on communication that directly enables revenue. It would want its goods to move—the more it cycles its shelf-space, the higher will be the returns. Here the need for communication is targeted towards pushing sales. Thus, advertising fits the bill. It is a form of direct communication and allows companies to communicate on a pure marketing basis Microsoft MCTS Training.
However, ITC as a group has a larger role to play. It needs to communicate not only the health of the group but also about group strategies, along with the measures adopted to tackle the downturn and strengthen their investors’ morale. This can be best supported by a sustained PR plan. In the retail space, a similar mapping can be drawn between, say, Total Hypermarket and its parent company Jubilant Organosys, respectively. In the tech space, too, a similar mapping can be seen between, say, Compaq laptops and HP, the parent company Microsoft MCITP Certification.
Bill Gates had once famously said, “If I was down to my last dollar, I’d spend it on public relations.” Rohit Gupta, co-founder and director, Pragma Communication, agrees and stresses the point that tech firms need to have a sound PR policy in place to succeed today.
What are the communication needs of a tech firm? How important is public relations (PR) in addressing these needs?
The technology landscape has changed over a period of time and has become extremely complex.
A few years ago, good technologies and good products could stand out on their own. But in the current scenario, communication can definitely serve as a competent marketing aid, targeted at keeping things simple, enabling information to be conveyed to interest groups at the right time, and helping differentiate products.
The need for communication is also driven by the business needs the firms may have from time to time. Lobbying or influencing industry bodies may be an active consideration for some who are involved in infrastructure related technologies, like 3G networking. Similarly, companies need to liaison with investors of all kinds. It is important that they keep these agencies posted on the well-being and future prospects of the company and also update them regularly on its returns. Communication plays a key role in establishing and nurturing this relationship.
The need for communication also arises because technology firms are bogged down by high attrition rates and employee churn. There exists an acute requirement for human resources. {quotes}PR can play a vital role in indirectly building employee loyalty and enhancing retention, as well as attracting potential employees towards the technology or the brand.{/quotes}
Recently, a business newspaper reported that owing to the recession, tech firms now have very small marketing budgets, and they prefer to spend it on PR rather than advertising. Could you comment on why this is so? However, FMCG companies like Wills Lifestyle, for instance, might prefer to spend on advertising. Why is the case different for a company in the tech space?
PR and advertising have their respective strengths and weaknesses. These are two parallel forms of communication and act most often as complimentary tools, having a common aim, which is strengthening the brand image and consequently, the net increase in revenue. Choosing between the two depends on what is being communicated and the desired effect that is being aimed at.
I do not believe that there is a difference, with respect to communication methods, between tech companies and FMCG (fast moving consumer goods) companies. The difference, as I see it, lies between the communicating entity and its communication needs at a specific moment.
Wills Lifestyle, for example, is part of the ITC Group and the communication needs for the two entities are different. For Wills Lifestyle, in the given market scenario (when the marketing spends are shrinking) it becomes imperative to maintain focus on communication that directly enables revenue. It would want its goods to move—the more it cycles its shelf-space, the higher will be the returns. Here the need for communication is targeted towards pushing sales. Thus, advertising fits the bill. It is a form of direct communication and allows companies to communicate on a pure marketing basis Microsoft MCTS Training.
However, ITC as a group has a larger role to play. It needs to communicate not only the health of the group but also about group strategies, along with the measures adopted to tackle the downturn and strengthen their investors’ morale. This can be best supported by a sustained PR plan. In the retail space, a similar mapping can be drawn between, say, Total Hypermarket and its parent company Jubilant Organosys, respectively. In the tech space, too, a similar mapping can be seen between, say, Compaq laptops and HP, the parent company Microsoft MCITP Certification.
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