Hi Cheryl: Back to the Yourdons and their new book. This book may well garner some mainstream reviews. However, these reviews are likely to be derisive if certain arguments are sloppy, and this will not be good in getting the y2k message out. The VCR example seems just plain dumb to me (set the clock, Ed), and we have already seen that the Yourdons don't understand the utility business very well (thanks to Rick Cowles). These are second drafts already and I'm just surprised by what I've seen.
There is so much stuff out there devoted to y2k these days. I can't read it all. So I like to find sources I trust--separate the wheat from the chaff. So far, I'm not sure I trust all that is in this book.
Wade
PS: It's not a great idea to write a book with your own daughter anyway. Who's going to do the tough editing?
PSS: What about this bank vault story?
<<< Robin Guenier, the man charged with
solving the "single most expensive
problem in history", tells a story.
"The micro-chip controls when the
bank vault can be opened and closed. It
allows the jackpot vault to be opened
during the working week, but keeps it
closed at weekends. For security
reasons, it has been buried inside the
20-ton-door of the vault, and can only
be inspected by removing the whole
door."
"The big problem arises because the
bank building has been built around the
vault, again for security reasons. So to
inspect or change the micro-chip
requires half the building to be
demolished and the door removed. The
people who built the chip, the vault
and the bank never imagined that the
chip would have to be removed in the
lifetime of the building," he added.
"'But at midnight on December 31,
1999, something they never foresaw
will happen. The chip has been
programmed to read only the last two
digits of the year, and assumes the 19
prefix. So it believes that it is back in
1900. That would make no difference,
except that January 1, 2000 falls on a
Saturday, while the same date in 1900
was a Monday. The vault will open on
Saturday and Sunday, but not on later
working days. So, to ensure
depositors have access to their
deposits, the bank building has to be
demolished. That sums up the
millennium problem.">>>
Does anyone believe this? They thought the microchip would never have to be replaced? Anyone's hard disk ever crash? It seems implausible that anyone would build the door this way. Even if they were this stupid, it hardly "sums up the millennium problem." It has little to do with y2k but a lot to do with the idiocy of the builders. |
