I wholeheartedly agree …
… until you happen to be using an old system tthat doesn't support named timezones :(
GOOD $ env TZ="Europe/Dublin" date
Fri 28 Sep 2012 12:13:03 IST
GOOD $ env TZ="Europe/Amsterdam" date
Fri 28 Sep 2012 13:13:14 CEST
BAD $ env TZ="Europe/Berlin" date
Fri Sep 28 11:14:04 Europe/Berlin 2012
BAD $ env TZ="Europe/Amsterdam" date
Fri Sep 28 11:14:12 Europe/Amsterdam 2012
BAD $ env TZ="Europe/Dublin" date
Fri Sep 28 11:14:38 Europe/Dublin 2012
BAD $ env TZ=MET-1METDST date
Fri Sep 28 13:14:50 METDST 2012
BAD $ env TZ=GMT-5GMTDST date
Fri Sep 28 17:14:56 GMTDST 2012
Enjoy, Have FUN! H.Merijn