We are very pleased to announce today the introduction of yet another great BitWise Professional feature. Each BitWise Professional Network can now specify a time offset for the timestamps shown when offline messages are forwarded to email. Previously, offline messages forwarded to email were always timestamped using the server's time (US Eastern time). Each Network's Master Account can choose the time offset from the Network Web Services menu.
The time offsets are based on US Eastern time, for three reasons. First, most of our customers are in the United States, and are more familiar thinking of time zone differences in terms of US Eastern time. Second, some parts of the BitWise system expect US Eastern time, and so a substantial amount of testing would be required to base times off of GMT/UTC. Third, because most locations observe Daylight Savings Time, you will not need to adjust your offset for Daylight Savings Time because the US Eastern Time will automatically change at the appropriate times. We do realize that some International locations begin or end daylight savings time a few weeks apart from the US, so the offset can be adjusted manually during those weeks if desired.
Please note that the only place this offset is used is in the timestamps on offline messages forwarded to email. Messages and offline messages received from within the client are always adjusted to reflect your local time, regardless of whether you use Personal or Professional and regardless of the new time offset.
There is no impact on BitWise IM Personal. BitWise IM Personal has always used US Eastern time and will continue to use US Eastern time.
In the future, it may be possible to adjust this time offset on a per-user basis, but there are no plans currently for a specific timeframe.