One of our nuclear plants installed certified Y2K compliant software, then retested. Testing failed, it turned out due to the method of transmission. In distributing the software over the Internet, the code was pkzip'd. It appears that pkzip's compression algorithm deletes those unnecessary first two year digits...

This opens up a whole new area of research in Y2K compliance, the support functions that are usually transparent. Comments?

-- Anonymous, January 22, 1998

Answers

Without comment, here's a link to PKWare's Y2K information: Y2K Compliance for PKWARE Products

You bring up a good point, Scott, and one that hasn't been lost on many who have done extensive research on the issue: Y2K is a 'macro' problem. Anyone involved in Y2K remediation or project planning must really think outside of the box. Here's a neat idea that pays extreme benefits -

Gather the entire project team. Bring a box of doughnuts. Set a meeting time limit of no more than one hour. Set up an easel in the corner of the room. Shut the doors. Go around the table and ask everyone to start 'free associating', thinking about their job responsibilities, and the most ABSURD thing that could happen internal to the company as a result of Y2K. Get really wild (something like, voltage spikes cause all HVAC fans in the corporate offices to rotate at 500% normal speed, blows the CEO's toupe off in the middle of a Board meeting, causing shareholder confidence in the company to plummet).

It's a fun exercise - plus, I assure you that some interesting touch points and support functions you hadn't considered before will come out.

-- Anonymous, January 23, 1998

I was at EPRI workshop on Y2K in Atlanta and the issue was also identified at another facility. So when in doubt go to the source. I called the Technical Support Section for PKWARE and asked the question, "Can early versions of PKZIP cause the problems identified". The answer, earlier versions of PKZIP may truncate the year from 4 digits to 2 digits. So if you are concerned with Year 2000 issues its best to destroy your versions 1.0 and 1.1 of PKZIP.

-- Anonymous, January 29, 1998