HI All;
I got this email below from another list. I'm not a hardware person, so
I'll ask you guys. Is this true, that there are date functions imbeded in
chips? Ones that can blow up on Y2K? To be honest, this letter comes
across as propaganda to scare people that are not too computer ilterate.
If this is wrong, what is right?
TIA!
J
I
M
-----------------------------------------
Jim Hatridge
Germany
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Proud Linux User #88484 !!!!!!!!!!
Micro$oft -- Ghostdriver* on the road to the future!
(*German Slang for the guy driving on the wrong side of the road!)
----------------------------------------------
"If a President of the United States ever lied to the
American people he should resign."
Bill Clinton, 1974
____________________________________________________________________
Dear friends,
I have been contributing to this list since about last September. I have
enjoyed much and learned much. I hope also that I have been able to help
others. I am in a unique situation to offer some perspective on the year
2000
computer problem. A little history first.
I entered the workforce after graduate school in 1972. I worked for
several years for a large national computer manufacturer. I wrote software
for banks and business. I wrote savings and checking programs. I wrote accounts
payable, accounts receivable, and payroll programs. I am afraid that I am partly
to blame for the fix we are in now. In the late 70's and early 80's I worked for
a large custom silicon chip manufacturer. I was not directly involved with the
"programming" of the chip, but I worked VERY closely with those that were. I
saw the same date schemes used in the custom chips as I used in the bank
and business programs. At that time "real estate" on a chip was very
valuable.
Every thing possible was done to conserve this costly silicon. The
development of a custom chip could cost anywhere from hundreds of thousands to
millions of dollars. I have seen many date dependencies programmed into chips,
All using 2 digit year representation.
I write the above so that, number one, you understand why I am
preparing. It is not because I read about the problem somewhere, it is because
I lived through the creation of the problem. The second reason I mention is to
also share a perspective that I have. The Y2K computer problem has been
referred to as a computer bug. It is not a bug. A bug in a computer program is a
piece of code that reacts in an unpredictable manner.
A bug can usually be isolated in a timely fashion, and depending on the
severity, is usually corrected quickly. A bug affects only a small part
of the functionality on a program.
They Y2K computer problem is not a bug, but rather a designed part of
older computer systems. Therein lies the problem. A design flaw that permeates
the entire system, as does this, is not fixed quickly. This is not a
relatively simple maintenance problem, but a redesign problem. The original
design documents are for the most part incomplete or missing. The best solution
would be to replace the systems, but there is not enough time. The second best
solution would be to redesign the date routines and rewrite enough of
the system to make it work but there is insufficient documentation and a
lack of understanding of how the legacy systems work. The solution that
has been chosen, in my opinion is the least likely to succeed. That is to treat
it as a bug. Make it a maintenance problem.
This all sounds rather hopeless, but I have not lost hope. When the
going gets tough the geeks get tougher. I still hold out hope for success. BUT
I will continue to prepare for the worst.
I have been part of the y2k team for the computer systems I support at
work. We have had success in remediating the few problems we have uncovered,
and we have uncovered several. The systems I support were newly installed and
programmed within the last 10 years. We expected to find no problems,
but there were some. There is success out there, so continue to hope, but
don't stop your preparations.
I hope that in sharing the insight that I have from the unique situation
that I am in will help some of you and hurt none. I mostly hope it will help
anyone that decides there won't be a problem because their PC works OK. It is
not about PC's.
Dick
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