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To: Barry Grossman who wrote (59018)	6/28/1998 1:43:00 PM
From: Paul Engel	Respond to of 186894

Barry - Re: "Can you explain why everything couldn't be pretested to see what will occur ahead of time by setting the date forward in the computers. " I'm certainly not the expert here - there are many "experts" and Web Sites devoted to this subject. However, setting the "real Time Clock" will only test those programs, and those PARTS of programs, that use the real time clock to load dates. Typically, many programs do DATE arithmetic - they take a given date and, for example, subtract another date, to compute a person's age, time on the job, etc. Every permutation of "date arithmetic" must be tested - and that only STARTS with being able to handle dates for the year 2000 or greater. A much more subtle problem - but potentially more serious - is in embedded machine control applications. One item often sited is the station controllers for the various valves and pump stations along the Oil Pipeline in Alaska. Each station may have an embedded microprocessor that was programmed 20 or 25 years ago. If they require date calculations to perform their functions - such as opening/closing valves, starting/stopping pumps, etc. - and the math cannot handle year 2000 dates - BIG TROUBLE! Who wrote those programs? Most are probably embedded in an EPROM or PROM. Who has the source code for the controllers? Are the companies/sub-contractors who wrote that code still in existence today? Are there any programmers today that know how to program those ancient controllers - 8048/49, LSI 11, NOVA MicroFlames, etc., etc.? Are the EPROM's/PROM's from 20+ years ago AVAILABLE today for replacement? Are there any programmer systems available to do the programming? These concerns just barely touch on the "non-obvious" problems associated with the Year 2000 problem. Paul