YES! Get rid of that dumb shit!
Not sure what programmers have to say about this though. Ideally DST would've been scrapped like 30 years ago back when there were a lot fewer people using computers, so a lot of code wouldn't need updating as soon as such a change is implemented, but waiting will only worsen it.
I think keeping summertime is the better option. Having a bit of sunlight when you come home from school or work in winter would be priceless. Even if it means darker mornings.
If the EU abolishes DST in its member states, there won't be any patches or updates necessary to software out there. The timezone database will simply be updated to reflect the change of policy and bam, once your system has the new tzdata, restart your apps and they will automatically understand it. This is not like the Y2K bug that needed actual patches.
Unless the software implemented timezones wrong, for example as tz column in the database with a signed integer. This breaks as soon as you have 30 min Timezone offsets, or try to compare north earth timezones vs south earth timezones where the change between summer and wintertime 2 months apart.
There are lots of systems (embedded, mostly offline, abandoned by its vendor) which are not easily upgradeable and their timezone database cannot be easily replaced.
Not everything is a PC getting its regular software update.
Hi, I'm a software developer. DST is a nightmare because it makes the clock jump (skip an hour in one direction, meaning there are wall clock times which don't exist, or backwards, meaning there are wall clock times that exist twice). I don't care whether we will settle on summer or winter time but please, just don't make it jump.
As a software dev myself: if time in your application's internals jumps on DST, something has been implemented incorrectly. That's what zone information is for, to make times uniquely identifiable and timers run the correct length.
Getting the implementation right is hard, though. So, abolishing DST is very well worth it.
I think keeping summertime is the better option. Having a bit of sunlight when you come home from school or work in winter would be priceless. Even if it means darker mornings.
This is why I doubt we'll get rid of it. A majority of people seem to dislike dst but not for the same reasons. I get up around 6. That already means about 3 hours of darkness during winter mornings as is. And in the afternoon I'm indoors anyway because it's cold. It'd be more convenient for me to sacrifice an hour of daylight on summer evenings. Then again the sun rising around 4 would be kind of a waste.
As a fellow German, could you please tell me, which limits there are to business hours that would be problematic with an hour more or less?
Because most businesses start between 6:00 and 9:00 in the morning and afaik. there is no regulatory limit (e.g. late shift surcharges) before 22:00. Still people working in grocery stores often start at 5 to unload before opening at 6 and in cities stores run until 22:00 some until midnight.
Most people work from 8:00-17:00. That is perfectly cover able without any legal changes.
Not sure what programmers have to say about this though.
DST is a major pain in the butt, getting rid of it simplifies a lot of things. Only problem is that everything still needs to take DST into account for all of history.