While I agree that there are situations where it is necessary to store the offset and timezones, I also wish that we could jsut "always use UTC" period. Not just for storing instants, but for any use of time. I wish we could abolish time zones and daylight savings and just use a single time system across the world. It would take some getting used to daylight hours not matching up with the same times that we are used to, but I think in the long term it would be much simpler.