Klarinet Archive - Posting 000789.txt from 1998/08

From: Bill Hausmann <bhausman@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] Re: Y2K
Date: Fri, 28 Aug 1998 10:08:58 -0400

At 12:00 PM 8/26/98 EDT, GrabnerWG wrote:
>Tim, I'm sorry, but your "reality check" is based on your opinion only.
>
>Again.....I will state that the biggest problems will be in equipment that
has
>embedded microchips. Some of these microchips are 286's....and I'm sorry, but
>they will not work, probably will not boot, after 12/31/98. Many
organizations
>realize that they will not even be able to Identify all the equipment that
>they use, let alone replace, test, and put back into production, where
>obsolete microchips are still in use.
>
>Example.....a manufacturing company in Milwaukee where I have done some
>consulting work will have their business computer Y2K compliant by next
>spring.
>However they are just NOW realizing how many machines on the shop floor rely
>on old microchips THAT SIMPLY WONT WORK.
>
>Cars, toasters, telephones, toys, radios, alarm clocks, medical
>equipment......they all can have microchips!!!!!!!!!!!!! Think about it.
>
WHY will they not work? If my radio thinks it is 1900, or 1983, or
whatever, how exactly does that affect it's ability to receive signals out
of the air? Yes, any machine that uses a date in it's calculations will be
subject to error, but any other function should be absolutely UNAFFECTED,
unless, of course, the equipment was designed by complete idiots, which IS
a possibility, I admit. As even Mark Charette recently proved, a computer
with an incorrect date in it is simply a computer which has the wrong date
in it. If you are really worried about the thing blowing up on 1/1/00,
sometime before midnight, lie to the thing; tell the computer it is 1990
and continue in fully operational bliss for ten more years! There is no
reason why this will not work for any FREESTANDING electronic device, and
only minor glitches should crop up in interconnected systems, and then only
if the date is critical to function (financial and billing programs the
most obvious example).

Bill Hausmann bhausman@-----.com
451 Old Orchard Drive http://www.concentric.net/~bhausman
Essexville, MI 48732 http://members.wbs.net/homepages/z/o/o/zoot14.html
ICQ UIN 4862265

If you have to mic a saxophone, the rest of the band is too loud.

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