Hi B.K.
A few month's ago, you sent me a nice(any only) reply to my post explaining the reasons for my "polly" position.
Message 10749483
My main point was regarding embedded chips, and how few of them were year sensitive, and how they could easily be found and fixed:
4. Embedded Chips
UNLESS THE CHIP OR SYSTEM HAS SOME WAY FOR THE USER TO
SET THE YEAR AFTER A BATTERY OR POWER FAILURE, THERE IS
NO WAY THE CHIP OR SYSTEM CAN BE PRONE TO Y2K FAILURE.
I have checked with some electrical engineers, who assure me that this statement is correct since a chip may not be "burned" with date / year logic. If you accept this premise then it is obvious that 1. chips in concrete or under the sea cannot have a Y2K problem, and 2. it is very easy to identify those chips or systems that need checking ie. if the year must be re-entered after a power failure.
This is why alarm clocks will not have a problem, but VCRs might.
I would be very interested to know if any believe the above statement to be incorrect, because I base my comfort level on this premise regarding embedded chips.
In your reply,
Message 10751899
You stated that:
I think of the GPS rollover as a subset of the embedded systems problem and will use the GPS rollover on August 21-22 as an indicator of the size of the embedded systems problem. GPS is only 20 years old and many GPS manufacturer's newer model take this rollover into account. But, have all of the problem GPS systems been fixed, replaced or accounted for by some other means. If any problems occur because of the GPS rollover, then I don't think that the embedded system problem will be repaired.
This will also be a good test of company contingency plans.
Since we had virtually no GPS problems (except for some cars in Japan), do you feel more confident now that the embedded chip "problem" will not be serious?
Regards,
Jim |
