Thought this was interesting....
Prove It 2000: Compaq Withdraws Y2K Compliance Advertisement
LONDON, July 20 /PRNewswire/ -- The
following was released today by Prove It 2000:
Prove It 2000, the Millennium computer software manufacturer, today welcomed
news that Compaq, the world's largest manufacturer of PCs, has withdrawn its
controversial advertising campaign that claimed its products were Year 2000
compliant. The news was confirmed last night by Compaq's advertising agency.
Compaq's move follows a complaint by Prove It 2000 to the UK Advertising
Standards Authority that challenged Compaq's claim on Millennium compliance.
Richard Coppel, chief executive of Prove It 2000, disputed Compaq's statement
after tests had shown Compaq's PCs failed Real Time Clock tests.
Coppel, said: "The RTC is one of the most important and misunderstood issues
within the Millennium bug arena. It affects all PCs and should not be
ignored by manufacturers, suppliers or consumers of PCs."
Compaq had previously claimed the RTC compliance issue was "a red herring"
but now acknowledges its importance. Coppel, however, said Compaq was still
trying to downplay the fact that its PCs did not pass RTC compliance tests by
coming up with "technical mumbo jumbo" in a reply to the Advertising
Standards Authority seen by Prove It 2000 that tried to explain the company's
stance.
Compaq has relied upon selective interpretation of statements by NSTL, the US
testing laboratory that features the free Internet-delivered Ymark2000 test,
as the base of its Millennium compliance claims. Most notably by suggesting
the RTC is not important in assessing Year 2000 compliance in a PC.
In its response to the ASA, Prove It 2000 has included a full text copy of
NSTL's statements (available on www.nstl.com). This states that certain
software and operating systems do access the RTC for date and time related
functions and that an upgrade of the RTC that is found in all PCs is an
"ideal" scenario to ensure Year 2000 compatibility.
Coppel added: "We believe that NSTL's documentation, especially its "White
Paper" on the Year 2000, instead of supporting Compaq actually vindicates our
standpoint. We strongly argue that the RTC is an issue for Year 2000
compliance and that consumers should be allowed to make up their own mind
when buying a PC rather than being misled by erroneous advertising."
Notes: Compaq was reported to the UK Advertising Standards Authority on 19
May following an advertisement in the UK Press in May which urged customers
to ditch existing PC assets in favour of Compaq machines because its products
passed NSTL Millennium compliancy tests. The advertisement appeared in a
number of other UK national newspapers.
Last month Compaq released this statement from its Houston, Texas, head
office: "There is no defect in the NSTL test methodology. Applications that
obtain data directly from the RTC may exist but, to the extent they do not
contain logic to adjust for the actual date, violate basic PC programming
principles."
SOURCE Prove It 2000
|
