Oh cool, the clock on the microwave is working again. Darn thing has been an hour off for six months.

DeWitt Clinton (@dewitt on Twitter), the day after the clocks went forward in Canada and the USA.

I am glad I’m not the only one whose microwave clock is wrong by an hour for half of the year. It’s not just my microwave; there are a variety of digital clocks around my house (and one on the car radio) that never manage to follow the vagaries of the biannual clock changes. Luckily the digital clock that controls the household heating system has nice clear instructions printed on the control unit, and the dashboard clock in my car is really easy to change. The rest of them require various combinations of pressing down and holding buttons that normally do something else in order to enter “clock setting mode”, then fiddling with other buttons that normally do something else to change the time, followed by some other arcane button press combinations to get you back out of “clock setting mode”. What makes matters worse is that every single one of these devices has a different method for changing the time.

I have often wondered why on earth manufacturers don’t just agree on a simple, standard method for setting digital clocks, and then use it on every device made. I wonder if it is because organisations have got patents on the method for setting the clock? Since these devices are all implemented using software, and some nitwits decided to allow patenting on software, it seems possible that each company might have its own patented method for this, in order not to infringe the patents of everybody else. If that seems ludicrous, it’s because it is, but the chances of it changing are not looking good at the moment.

I also have three analogue clocks. They almost always tell the correct time, because setting the time on them is easy. There is a rotary dial on the back, that moves the hands back and forwards. Rotate to the time you want. Imagine if someone had patented that?