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To: Wizzer who wrote (10954)	4/29/1998 7:01:00 PM
From: Bobby Yellin	Respond to of 116764

off topic.. I only worked on IBM mainframes under OS and DOS and CICS in assembler and just a bit of cobol and pls When I had to use date routines..I coded them..software..mostof the year2000 is being done by going through line by line ..and these systems are monsters and documentation is lousy.. there are some programs that search for dates..and should automatically spot them.. supposedly Bemer has a system that both scans for dates and then converts storing the 19 hundred part..don't know if it is fully tested..other programs convert code from one language to another to make the bugs more accessible..you are right in that there were not bugs when originally coded.. (go to the tpii thread and look up Bemer and then go to his webpage.. that will be a better and correct answer) bobby

To: Wizzer who wrote (10954)	4/29/1998 8:30:00 PM
From: Stephen O	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 116764

I programmed main frames in the 1960's and 70's. The problem is mainly in COBOL. 2 digits used for Year to save space on disks and tapes and also save on time reading dates into buffers from these mag tapes and disks. Input was on punched cards. Key 2 digits only saves time.It was not a mainframe problem as such. In 1970 I designed a system on IBM using PL/1. Dates were stored in 2 bytes only as a number of days from an arbitrary start point. A software routine would be used to encode and decode the date. This system will last until 2027. 57 years should be enough for any system to last.

To: Wizzer who wrote (10954)	4/29/1998 8:39:00 PM
From: bill718	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 116764

Y2k problem...just my .02 worth. Today everything is so competetive in both hardware and software areas, that companies are (and have been for some time) releasing products full of bugs (though they seldom like to admit that). That is one of the reasons we continuously have to upgrade nearly everything periodically from v.n to v.n+1, and it seems this madness will never end now. Take for example, a recent motherboard I was considering purchasing....until I found out it had 6 bios upgrades in about 6 mos. We now have such a complicated internetworked multi-platform (hardware and software-wise) computing monster on our hands (especially in large corporate enviroments), that I find it unrealistic to expect the Y2k problem will be properly resolved before 2000 in all cases. Only question in my mind now is...how serious will the damage be, and how many areas will be significantly affected (ie, what will happen in health, telecommunications, power distribution, and financial areas for example (including the stock exchanges)). My guess is that POG will be going up significantly as we approach 2000. Regards, Wayne