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To: Paul Engel who wrote (53768)	4/17/1998 11:43:00 AM
From: Burt Masnick	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 186894

Here's the great Microsoft Problem Thursday April 16 10:22 AM EDT Microsoft Says Windows Has 'Minor' Y2K Issues SEATTLE (Reuters) - Some of Microsoft's most widely used products, including its Windows operating systems, will require "minor" updates to work properly in the year 2000 and beyond, the software giant said. But Microsoft executives said they have discovered no glitches that would hamper the core functionality of its Windows 3.11, Windows 95 and Windows NT systems installed on tens of millions of computer desktops worldwide. "The vast majority of our products are doing proper date handling," Microsoft executive Jason Matusow told reporters and industry analysts in a conference call to discuss the company's strategy for addressing the so-called millennium bug. "These issues truly are minor and ... they truly are not threats to the core stability of the operating system," Matusow said. Of the dozens of products tested so far, only Microsoft's Word for DOS version 5.0 word processor and Access 2.0 database manager have been rated "not compliant" with the needs of the next century, meaning the company is recommending that users scrap them and buy replacement software. Other products, including Windows 95 and most versions of the Internet Explorer browser, could cause "minor inconveniences" if customers fail to update them with patches the company will make available free over the Internet, Matusow said. Microsoft's massive effort to address the year 2000 issue, involving hundreds of engineers and a new Web site detailing known issues (www.microsoft.com/year2000/), makes clear that even talented software engineers working in the mid-1990s failed to account for potential problems stemming from the tendency to use two-digit shorthand for years. "I think it's important to recognize the sociological aspect of the year 2000 problem, that people think and work in two-digit dates," he said. "That's true for people who are programming computers as well." As a result, the Windows 95 "find file" feature will not work correctly for dates past Dec. 31, 1999. Although accurate file searches will be possible, the utility will not be able to sort files by the date of the most recent change. The problem is eliminated by installing the latest version of the Internet Explorer browser, but the browser itself has what Matusow described as several "very minor" issues, including one related to the use of two-digit dates in some Web page addresses. Windows NT version 4.0, the company's increasingly popular high-end desktop operating system for business use, has several date-related issues that can be addressed by installing software already available on the company's Web site. But for users still in the Dark Ages of computing with Word version 5.0 for DOS the only solution will be to get new software -- any efforts to create a new file after 1999 will result in a "corrupted" file that eventually will crash the computer, Matusow said. For business users the biggest problems likely will be caused by custom-developed software written to be used with basic applications and systems, Matusow said. While the world's biggest companies are devoting massive resources to identifying and addressing year 2000 issues, small businesses need to pay more attention to the looming century change, and many may find it cheaper to buy new software rather than attempt to root out problems. However, Matusow said Microsoft was not looking at the year 2000 as a revenue opportunity. Microsoft has pledged that all future products, including the forthcoming Windows 98 and Windows NT 5.0 operating systems will fully address year 2000 issues.

To: Paul Engel who wrote (53768)	4/17/1998 12:51:00 PM
From: Carter Patterson	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 186894

This was in today's Atlanta newspaper. The article was fairly vague as to the exact details. However, my interpretation is that MSFT is playing it down, but at the same time is looking to give people a good excuse to upgrade. Hopefully the new versions of WIN and Office are even fatter hogs than their predecessors and "drive" hardware upgrades as well. This could be a brilliant marketing move by MSFT, if what I have read regarding WIN98 being a relatively small advance from WIN95 is true.