Are the following Y2K compliant? 1. PowerShot A5 Digital Camera 2. Software - Ulead PhotoImpact 4.0 3. Software - PowerShot Utilities TimeTunnel 2.2 SlideShowMaker 1.1 PhotoStitch 2.1 ZoomBrowser 1.1

-- Dr. Ashraf Chowdhury (achowdhury@dme.qld.gov.au), April 18, 1999

Answers

Set the time and date in your camera to 12-30-1999 at 11:59:00pm and see the result.

-- (Hercules@aol.com), April 19, 1999.

Your best bet would be to verify with the individual companies. All of these products are relatively new so should be safe, but..... (A cynic might suggest that a software or hardware company may not be entirely candid or accurate as to compliance.) There are different levels of compliance and different impacts or types of problems. In addition to resetting camera date and time you may wish to test the computers running the programs by doing a time change on the system clock(s), etc, in the configuration these items are used so the various system interactions can be observed/tested. Before you do this be sure you have "saved" your materials, recorded system configurations, settings, etc. just as you would with any major test or change to the system. If possible make a separate set of back-up files that is not resident on your system under test just in case something does go wrong. In addition to just letting the clock run, you might want to set up a test protocol that exercises the various actions, data entries, and other operations you usually do just to be more comfortable.

Good Luck! (If the world does come to an end, it will end sooner in Australia than California, so perhaps your last message out would be to warn us Californians of what to expect. :) Craig

-- Craig Gillette (cgillette@thegrid.net), April 20, 1999.

The Y2K test is quite more than just change the date and see if it does roll over correctly. I agree with the fact that's the first step, but you need to go beyond that, power cycle after roll over and check the date, then power down before roll over, wait and power it back up, see if it rolled over correctly during the power down, in addition to power up mode. Leap year test would be next (multi-test is required), also the Unix date test is required as well. Believe me it is not a simple just one test. In regard to comment of checking the web sites, it is a good idea, but it is not a legal binding item, companies can change the information on their website next day stating otherwise, if you can get a signed copy of their web page, you are in good shape. That is the way we approach the companies in the industry, and it's not an easy task. Good luck to you.

-- Fred (tabarrok@ariver.com), April 27, 1999.

A friend of my brother in law lost 3 fingers on his right hand when he was taking a picture on New Year's Eve, 1999. The thing blew up right in his hand.

-- Y. R. Twokay (duh@cynic.com), June 08, 2001.