[LEAPSECS] how do computer people want their time clocked?

From: Deckers, Michael <Michael.Deckers_at_fujitsu-siemens.com>
Date: Mon, 28 May 2001 16:23:54 +0200

   From discussions with several operating system designers I got
   the impression that their (perceived) trouble with UTC arises
   only because UTC currently is not monotone with respect to TAI.

   In other words, leap seconds in UTC would not trouble them at all
   as long as they were all "negative", that is, if UTC were consistently
   slower in rate than UT1. In this case, the UTC clock would always be
   set forward during a leap second, and never set back (as happens
   today). Hence, a UTC timestamp would correspond to at most one
   TAI timestamp (not to several, as can happen today).

   Is that observation true for a larger portion of the computer
   community? Is monotonicity really good enough for those who
   cannot afford the access to a smooth timescale such as TAI or
   GPS time, or do those people need a timescale that is continuous
   as well (one without jumps), such as the proposed UTS?

   Michael Deckers

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Received on Mon May 28 2001 - 07:37:15 PDT