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To: Andrew H who wrote (8360)	1/5/1998 7:41:00 PM
From: S.C. Barnard	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 31646

>>'From what we can see, few manufacturing companies have recognised the scale of the problem yet. Systems are not yet failing, because real-time systems tend to have a lookahead of less than a month. So the failures will come late in 1999. Nonetheless, from our work over the past six months in this area, we know that the likelihood of failure of embedded systems is high. The companies we are working with are in the vanguard. The big organisations might be able to sort themselves out by throwing money at the problem, though resources will be very scarce. The small manufacturers are in trouble -- most of them don't know they have a potential problem, and when they find out, they'll find it very difficult to compete with the big boys for decent skilled staff. . . .'<< From the sound of it, the handful of y2k companies may not have their hands full for a year or even a while yet?

To: Andrew H who wrote (8360)	1/5/1998 7:56:00 PM
From: Bonzo	Respond to of 31646

Andrew as I said in an earlier post, I feel Mike Winns experience with Embedded Systems may not be diverse enough and real-time based to sufficently pass himself off as a credible expert on y2k in Embedded Controllers. It is my opinion he is an engineer, technically knowledgable, but is generalizing based on his personal experience (he simply has not come accross the problem so thinks it is a myth). I read his technical summary, handed it over to a former partner of mine who holds several design patents in Electronic Design (Digital/Analog) and we both basically agree with most of what he said. This particular engineer hadn't come accross the problem either (yet). He also has 20 years of design experience in MicroProccesor/MicroController/Analog. Does that mean the problem does not exist? Of course not. It does exist. If there are 50 million Embedded Controllers out there and 5% are non-compliant then most every facility utilizing these Controllers will have to perform an assessment in order to be 100% certain they aren't in the minority. Its as simple as that. Design Engineers are not Mfg. or Test Engineers and most have not been tasked to assess the problem within thier facility. They may not know the real extent of the problem, because, as the article stated, some of these systems date back to the late 70's and early 80's. Does anyone really want to evaluate that code unless they have a specific (y2k) purpose. Can anyone categorically state, as Mr. Winn has, that these old systems and code are y2k compliant or insensitive?