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Archiver > NYFingerLakes > 1999-08 > 0933561219


From: "Gary Welch" <>
Subject: RE: [NYFingerLakes-L] Y2K FIX This one may be very Important.
Date: Sun, 1 Aug 1999 21:33:39 -0500


This is NOT a Y2K bug or any other kind of bug. It simply sets how dates
are displayed in places like Windows Explorer, not how they are passed to
application programs. It does not affect any calculations, the correct date
is passed. The purpose of the setting is to allow for variations in how
dates are written internationally.

There are no known significant Y2K problems with Windows 98, known Windows
95 Y2K bugs can be fixed with a patch that can be downloaded from the
Microsoft web site. There are a couple of very obscure Y2K bugs but you
have to do things like boot at exactly midnight on New Years Eve. Even
then, it will be correct on the next boot.

I work for a PC manufacturer and we and others have done extensive Y2K
testing.

In the future, please check out these things before posting.

-----Original Message-----
From: Byron Bray [mailto:]
Sent: Sunday, August 01, 1999 6:01 PM
To:
Subject: Re: [NYFingerLakes-L] Y2K FIX This one may be very Important.

>> . . . every single installation (yy) of Windows
>> worldwide is defaulted to fail Y2K rollover.

>> How many people know about this? How many people know to change
>> that? What will be the effect? Who knows! But this is another example
>> of the pervasiveness and systematic nature of the problem.

Actually, this is NOT an example of the prevasiveness of the problem. Nor
is it due to a clock glitch in your computer's hardware. It IS another
example of the unbelievable lack of planning, service and courtesy
typified by Microsoft who could have:

1) written Windows 95, 98 & NT to default to a four-digit year instead of
two, OR

2) warned users of the need to set it manually, in their documentation,
online help or by e-mail to all registered users (it's not like they
can't afford it), OR

3) used some of the 14 years that they've known about this problem to fix
it long before this.

There are over 200 Y2K-related bugs that are still in Windows 98.
Microsoft had a page on their web-site, back in February, which listed
them all but removed the page from the web when it started getting too
many hits.

Big business has just finished persuading Congress to pass a law limiting
YOUR right to sue companies whose software damages your data due to Y2K.
These are companies who have, in many cases, known about this problem for
over a decade and have done nothing about it. And guess who the biggest
one of them is??

By contrast, the very first Macintosh operating system, released 15 years
ago in 1984, was Y2K compliant.

Sorry for the off-topic message, but I've never been happy about
Microsoft's abysmal record on this issue. I run Windows and I'm planning
on backing up ALL of my data on January 31, 1999 - just to be safe.

Regards,

Byron C. Bray


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