Re: Year 2000/2038 compliance problem

[D�nes Bogs�nyi]

Title: Re: Year 2000/2038 compliance problem

on 12/4/01 8:38 AM, Michael W. Wellman at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

>>> From <http://til.info.apple.com/techinfo.nsf/artnum/n19843>, published in
>>> 1996:
>>
>> 1) Question: Will the Mac OS have a problem with the year 2000?
>> Answer: No. The Mac OS has always correctly handled dates between January 1,
>> 1904 and February 6, 2040. The current Mac OS date and time utilities handle
>> all dates between 30,081 B.C. and 29,940 A.D. All applications and system
>> software which use the supplied Mac OS date and time utilities will have no
>> problems with the year 2000. The only possible issues would come if an
>> application does not use the routines supplied by the Mac OS for
>> manipulating dates and times. If you believe you have such an application,
>> please contact the manufacturer of that application for an update.
>>
>> Apparently Entourage is an application that does not use the OS date and
>> time routines.
>
> You've not read that quite correctly.  Or, if you prefer, Apple didn't write
> it quite correctly.
>
> Read it without the line:
>> The current Mac OS date and time utilities handle all dates between 30,081
>> B.C. and 29,940 A.D.
>
> Or simply read:
>> All applications and system software which use the supplied Mac OS date and
>> time utilities will have no problems with the year 2000.
>
> #####
>
> The issue this is discussing is whether or not there will be a problem with
> the year 2000.
>
> Not whether or not applications and the system really allow for dates all
> the way up to 29,940 AD.
But!!! Apple explicitly and directly states that:"The current Mac OS date and time utilities handle all dates between 30,081 B.C. and 29,940 A.D." If that statement is NOT true then it is MISLEADING and DECEPTIVE!!! There is no purpose to making such a statement other than: "See how good Apple is and how far technically advanced it is". IMHO IT STINKS that Apple should make such a statement in the hope that no one will check up on it. It is SPINDOCTORING in the worst possible way.
>
> Apple's current error checking makes it very difficult to set dates that are
> past 2040.  The vast majority of the functions exposed in the API will
> "cleverly" assume that you really meant a year in the range 1941-2040 and
> may munge your correctly input 1937 to 2037 behind your back.
Again Apple is trying to slavishly and without thought copy all the worst “clever” gimmicks of MS.
> Apple has committed to resolving these issues "in a timely fashion";
however, they've not defined "timely".
Spindoctoring that means exactly nothing!
> The only possible issues would come if an
>> application does not use the routines supplied by the Mac OS for
>> manipulating dates and times.
>
> For all I know, Entourage may do this all wrong (although I suspect that
> they didn't go through the trouble of writing their own date and time
> utilities).  But it's not the case that if Entourage fails to display a 2041
> date that ipso facto they're not using the OS routines.
>
> mikel
>
But again Apple explicitly states that: "The only possible issues would come if an application does not use the routines supplied by the Mac OS for manipulating dates and times." Again it is irresponsible SPINDOCTORING!
Regards
Dénes
133 Osburn Drive MACGREGOR ACT 2615 AUSTRALIA
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