Cruiser, you say:
"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. "
Especially given your earlier post suggesting people not worry about anything they didn't personally set the date on, I wouldn't mind knowing more about the embedded systems you've been designing and such.
I admittedly know almost nothing about them, but to answer some (probably rhetorical) questions that have been posed ...
Even though most embedded systems simply measure (often miniscule) intervals, and therefore do not NEED to be date dependent, that doesn't mean they do not use dates anyway.
One possible reason could be in reporting / diagnosing errors and failures. If I were to design an embedded system, I might consider programming it to include the date (factory preset to the correct GMT date and time) so that any errors and failures that are recorded could be "stamped" to indicate when they happened to help those investigating the error track down just what happened and why.
I may be thinking of more complex systems than you are, but I suspect there are a great many devices less complicated than full blown computers that can and perhaps do include such functionality.
What am I saying? Not too much except to counter what originally seemed like a relatively simplistic argument for why we shouldn't worry about embedded systems with some logic as to why they might actually be a problem.
For what it's worth, I definitely have no vested interest in how bad y2k gets (which, imo, could be used as a sort of symbol or general term for how the world is getting so complex and high speed that small mistakes made by a few and make the wonders of technology go haywire on the "unsuspecting" public). I don't even really expect to get the bad, but can't help but play devil's advocate now and then ;).
To help keep this rambling post a bit on topic ...
When I was out on Tuesday night gas prices were only up slightly at the pump (probably as related crude oil prices going up w/ the US reserves low and all as anything else), and there were some people filling containers and going for stuff at the Grocery store. Speaking of the Grocery store, they certainly didn't seem to be any lower on anything than normal.
The thing that really gets me though ... is so many people BUYING water in large amounts (i've read it in the news and heard from a few different people ... didn't think to check when at the store). Come on people ... you've still got a few days to store up all you want from your own tap (provided you think your tap water is drinkable).
One more thing to make me really wonder about this country / society / world. Perhaps the cloud of a devastating y2k would have the silver lining of encouraging us to "get it better the second time" ;). (mostly joking on that, but it IS a thought ... if a macbre one). |
