Christine -
I wrote a reponse to this and then it disappeared ...maybe Y2K related?? :-) more likely user error.
Thanks for your response. Unfortunately I dont think this or the articles referenced explain it.
Time used in embedded devices especially in the "trillions" of chips you are concerned about, have absolutely no knowledge of the actual time in terms of day/month/year. In embedded systems (which I have been involved in designing for 25 years), time is a reference clock usually in the millisecond accuracy range. samples of something are made over a particular time interval -a very small time interval.
The embedded systems that might be of concern are much more sophisticated devices employing microcontrollers, Flash memory, NVRAM, etc. In these devices, the current time, if available, must be set by a human. Time isnt somehow just known. As the device is moved from location (i.e. shipped from Taiwan) the time or the location, would have to be set. The point about having to set the time is that this rules out the vast majority of the devices which you reference and are fearful of (medical devices, pumps, heat valves, etc).
In the VCR example two points. Which VCRs allow you to program a show a year in advance? not very useful if it did since you still have to add the blank tape. :-) And if you have a time comparison problem it could mean that if you attempted to program your VCR to record from 11:30PM 12/31 to 12:30 AM 1/1 then it could not stop recording for 100 years more ...but you would have recorded at least the 1 hour ... and I cant imagine that is a problem any cares about.
I'll watch here for more incite into this...
Cruiser
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