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Technology Stocks : Discuss Year 2000 Issues -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: C.K. Houston who wrote (563)	11/27/1997 2:49:00 PM
From: Josef Svejk	Respond to of 9818

Humbly report, Newbytes: "Embedded Chips Face Year 2000 Scrutiny." guide-p.infoseek.com AMSTERDAM, THE NETHERLANDS, 1997 NOV 24 (NB) -- By Steve Gold Partial quotes: "In a preview of her speech scheduled for the first Pan European Year 2000 Conference and Expo, which takes place in Amsterdam late next week, Ann Coffou, an analyst with the Giga Group, has warned that the next focus for Year 2000 matters will be embedded chips. According to Coffou, as we near the Year 2000, there is a grave danger poised by embedded microchips, one that has been eclipsed by the anticipated problem facing computer systems. Coffou notes that embedded chips exist in a multitude of appliances, such as aeroplanes, automobiles, ships, and weapon systems. She claims that they perform date and/or timing functions, so the danger lies with the possibility that they are not designed to handle the change in century. The resulting problem, she explained, will come in two varieties: - The complete inability of the embedded microchip to handle the change in century, rendering the product or device unusable, and, - The ability of the embedded microchip to continue functioning, all the while producing invalid, inaccurate, or contaminated data. She claims that either result could wreak havoc for individuals, companies, cities, states, governments, and countries worldwide. The issue of embedded systems, Coffou claims, represents a huge risk to the life and well-being of the global population. Manufacturers of products that employ embedded systems must be given a wake-up call regarding the seriousness of Year 2000 issues. She also claims that anything with an electrical component should be suspect. The rule, she explained, should be -- guilty until proved innocent. " Humbly report, although suspect, I contain no electrical components, and therefore believe I'm innocent. Svejk

To: C.K. Houston who wrote (563)	11/28/1997 3:43:00 PM
From: C.K. Houston	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 9818

ESTIMATED: 80% OF INSTALLED PC'S NATIONWIDE ARE NONCOMPLIANT The problem is much bigger than most people realize.' ... In sheer numbers, it could be a bigger problem than the mainframe environment ============================================================= - Manufactured before 1996 most at risk - Most 486-based and below, are not Y2K compliant - Some Pentium-based PC's not Y2K compliant - Some as current as 166 MHz Pentium chips not Y2K compliant - Some 200 MHz Pentium PCs not Y2K compliant - Noncompliant BIOS chips are still in some current production runs ============================================================= Recent test at NASA revealed that most PCs cannot properly process y2k dates. techstocks.com *600 NEW* Nuclear Regulatory Commission PC's Fail Y2K Dallas Semiconductor readily admits that the real-time clocks used in the NRC PCs are NOT compliant. The company has been manufacturing chips with and without a ''century counter'' that provides Year 2000 compliance, said Jim Lott, senior product manager for Dallas Semiconductor's timekeeping group - The noncompliant clock, which cost 60 cents less per chip .... makes a big difference to volume manufacturers when they buy components. techstocks.com Of 26 PCs and laptops in Dixons, Harrods, JohnLewis, PC World and Tempo ...... 23, or 88% of the machines contained cheap and outmoded real-time clocks** that will NOT recognise the new century. Message 2829253 Even though millennium-compliant clocks have been available since 1992 .... they haven't necessarly been used! Start here to find out if you have the right time: rightime.com *BUT ... THAT STILL* MIGHT NOT SOLVE THE PROBLEM ....... ================================================================ Newest phenoma discovered in August '97: TIME DILATION "Nobody thought seconds would start happening at the wrong speed." "We all expected computers to have the wrong date, but who expected time to start running at the wrong speed?** Had anyone in the world predicted some RTCs would suffer time dilation?" Message 2829408