Y2K: Fool Me
Twice?If they got you with Y2K, what'll they do for an
encore?- Oct. 7, 1998
Dan Knight
The honest truth is, every Macintosh made since 1984 has
a problem comparable to the Y2K problem afflicting Windows
computers as well as a lot of older minicomputer and
mainframe software. The good thing: the clock chip on older Macs runs out of
time at 6:28 a.m. on February 6, 2040. The less good thing:
the current Mac OS only lets you set dates through December
31, 2019 -- so you'd better have a really long life battery
handy to keep it running for the remaining 20 years. Of course, compared with the IBM PC and its siblings, a
computer designed to handle dates 56 years in the future was
absolutely progressive. (I wonder what they think of the
Power Mac, which can handle dates through A.D. 29,940!) - For some absolutely inexplicable reason, when IBM
created the PC, it never occurred to them that the
century and millennium would be ending in just 19
years.
That's why so many DOS and Windows computers suffer from
the Y2K bug: poor planning. Not to blame IBM alone, for it was common practice from
the earliest days of computing to use as few bytes as
possible to store data. If you can store the year in two
digits, that leaves more room for your program or data. And
with computer memory measured in bytes (rarely kilobytes!),
that counted for a lot. Problem was, as computers came with more and more memory,
nobody questioned the conventional wisdom of two-digit
years. PCs Grow UpFrankly, IBM seems to have created the PC as a lark.
Instead of designing something with their own technology,
IBM used off the shelf parts and shipped for first PC with
as little as 16KB of memory. Maybe they didn't expect PCs to
be in use 19 years later -- and today's personal computers
(whether Macs, Wintel, or other types) are vastly different
from the personal computers of the late 1970s and early
1980s. - (Remember William Shatner pushing the Commodore
VIC-20 as the wonder computer of the 80s?)
Yet the shortsighted decision to use two-digit years
afflicts perhaps 100% of Wintel boxes over 5 years old,
70-80% of three-to-four year old systems, and even some
computer sold in the past two years. It means MS-DOS is on its last legs, although IBM has
released a Y2K compatible DOS. It means Windows 3.1 and earlier are all on their last
legs. Even if the computer running them can handle dates
1/1/2000 and later, they'll display things wrong. The first
day of the next millennium will display as 01-01-;0. (Yes,
that's a semicolon. In honor of Abe Simpson, my kids and I
have taken to calling the symbol "diggity" when used in
dates -- so as far as Window 3.1 is concerned, the
millennium begins on one-one-diggity-one.) Windows 95 was supposed to be Y2K compliant. Now
Microsoft says it's mostly compliant, or complaint "with
issues." Windows NT 4 is also compliant "with issues" -- and the
level of compliance depends on the service packs (Microsoft
speak for patches or updates) installed. But Windows 98, now that was supposed to be fully Y2K
compliant. Which doesn't explain the recently announced
service pack to resolve some "minor issues" if Y2K
incompatibility. Windows NT 5 became Windows 2000. Standing joke is it
will ship first quarter of 1901. As the tagline goes, Apple may not have done everything
right, but they knew the century was going to end. Yet the bulk of business continues to depend on a
technological infrastructure that, with 288 days until
1/1/2000, still doesn't have the millennium problem
solved. I think it's time the world woke up and smelled the
operating system. Something's seriously wrong when hardware,
software, and operating systems sold within the past five
years simply cannot handle moving from one century to
another. There are two viable alternatives to Windows, both of
which have roots well over a decade deep. Unix and its derivatives, including Linux, will fly right
past 1/1/2000 without missing a beat. Older Unix systems
using 32-bit clocks will run into problems early in the 21st
century -- in the year 2038. But 64-bit clocks can handle
dates millennia into the future. And then there's the user friendly Mac OS, the one
Microsoft keeps copying ideas from. As noted above, most
Macs over 6 years old will run into problems between 2019
and 2040, but every Power Mac can handle dates for another
28,000 years. Yet the world holds its breath for Microsoft and Intel to
solve the problem. Nine months is a lot of time, isn't it?
Surely they'll come through! Are you betting your business on it? Or even your
personal finances? And do you know the kind of fixes they're making? Some
programs bypass the Y2K problem by moving the "pivot point"
from 1900 to 1910. Any date 00-09 is the next century. And
they'll have to fix is again in another decade. A Real World SolutionDid you know that with programs such as MacLink Plus,
files from almost any programs can be ported over to the
Macintosh? Did you know that most programs available on Mac
and Windows can readily interchange files across
platforms? It's true. And practically any program that runs under Windows 95 or
98 can run on a Mac using a program such as Virtual PC -- so
even if there's no Mac equivalent to a program you use, you
can run that program within Windows on the Mac. (Virtual PC
is Y2K compliant, as is most modern Wintel hardware.) If I were still using DOS or Windows (which I gave up
about 9 years ago), I'd be very concerned depending on
companies such as Microsoft and Intel -- especially given
their track record trying to solve a simple calendar problem
over the past years. What else can go wrong? What other problems are they
keeping hidden? Sure, changing platforms requires changing some ingrained
work habits. But a lot of businesses are moving to Linux
servers, leaving Windows NT behind. And I can't help but
think that a fair portion of new Mac and iMac sales are to
people who feel a gnawing doubt entrusting their computing
future to companies that plan ahead as well as Microsoft and
Intel do. I'm just glad I made the switch long ago -- and that I
don't have to worry about the Y2K problems on Windows or the
minicomputer at work. There are enough things to worry about as millennial
hysteria grows from day to day. At least my Macs won't let me down. Related Reading- Y2K
problem identifies new cars as "horseless carriages,"
Mercury Center, 10/12/98.
- New
iMac really an improvement, Mac OS ready for Y2K,
Star Tribune, 10/11/98. "Apple is a bit smug about the
year 2000, for good reason. Even computers running the
oldest version of its operating system are
Y2K-compliant."
- The
greatest fix for Y2K, osOpinion. "Most people already
have the best fix for the Y2K problem. Its called
denial."
- The
Mac Y2K advantage is moot, Tales from the Mac Side,
4/22/98. "The sad truth is it doesn't matter that our
Macs are Y2K-compliant when the Internet we log on to,
the e-mail systems we use, the banks we connect to with
Quicken '98, and the trillions of Windows machines out
there can't handle it."
- Y2K
bug will hit early, reverberate, Reuters, 4/20/98.
"...about 60 percent of computer errors and data
disruption will occur during 1999."
- Mac
Y2K problem software, Macnologist
- Year 2000
Issues, MacInSchool
- Mac Y2K
Problems, Mac Musings, 2/8/99
- Y2K: Mac Owners
Beware, Mac Musings, 6/15/98
- Bears
and bugs, the Mac's got them beat, Garry Barker, The
Age, 6/16/98.
- 1/1/2K Just Another
Day for Macs, Dan Knight, Online Tech Journal,
12/21/99. And why some Mac programs are still Y2K
problems.
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