Extending daylight-saving time could save energy. That’s the reasoning behind a new U.S. federal law that has daylight-saving time kicking in three weeks earlier than usual this year. But because computers aren’t programmed to recognize the change, experts warn the move could befuddle calendaring and scheduling software.

Specifically, the change was mandated under the Energy Policy Act of 2005 in hopes that more early-evening daylight will translate into energy savings. The rub is that many technology devices, including software, programmed before the new law was passed are set to spring forward by one hour on the old daylight-saving schedule (April 1, 2007) instead of the earlier date mandated by the legal change (March 11, 2007), potentially creating scheduling issues for some users.

To find out what that means to computer users and what Microsoft is doing to help them negotiate the change, PressPass spoke with Rich Kaplan, vice president of Customer Service, Partners and Automation at Microsoft and the man who lead the company’s Y2K preparedness strategy.