Computer bugs in the year 2000
Norman Diamond
ndiamond at watdaisy.UUCP
Wed Jan 23 07:31:10 AEST 1985
> > I have a friend that raised an interesting question that I immediately
> > tried to prove wrong. He is a programmer and has this notion that when we
> > reach the year 2000, computers will not accept the new date. Will the
> > computers assume that it is 1900, or will it even cause a problem?
> > ...
> > Spencer L. Bolles
>
> The problem won't be the computers, but the software. Some software is
> bound to be wrong, only considering the last two digits of the year.
> but the problem won't come up until 2100.
> ...
> Gary Levin / Dept of CS / U of AZ / Tucson, AZ 85721 / (602) 621-4231
Leap years are not the only problem, and some software already is wrong.
There was some 105-year-old lady who hadn't registered for school, and
the truant officers came after her. I think this happened in the
U.S. midwest, around 8 years ago.
-- Norman Diamond
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"Opinions are those of the keyboard, and do not reflect on me or higher-ups."
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