Computers Weather 9/9/99; Now For 1/1/, 29/2/2000

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Computers Weather 9/9/99; Now For 1/1/, 29/2/2000

Updated 11:58 AM ET September 9, 1999

By Neil Winton

LONDON (Reuters) - Europe and Asia seem to have successfully hurdled the theoretical 9/9/99 computer glitch but experts said Thursday that the switch to 2000 and other trigger dates next year could present more formidable problems.

Others said although no computer crashes were apparent Thursday, problems could be building up in systems over coming weeks and months.

Concerns over September 9, 1999 arose from a programming convention that used four nines in a row -- 9999 -- to tell computers to stop processing data, or prepare for maintenance.

Some thought that 9/9/99 might be a precursor to the Y2K or millennium bug, which could strike on January 1,2000. Early computer programmes abbreviated years to their last two digits and may be confused by 2000, resulting in shutdowns or erroneous data.

Earlier Thursday, first reports from New Zealand and then Australia when September 9 dawned, pointed to a non-event. The rest of Asia and Europe seemed to follow suit. Later in the United States, John Koskinen, head of the White House Council on Y2K conversion, said he expected little 9/9/99 disruption.

NO PROBLEM FOR BANKS

Banks and financial services, perhaps the most computerized businesses in the world, reported that systems were running smoothly.

"The only thing I can tell you is that this was basically a non-event," said Bill Mundt of the Global 2000 Coordinating Group on the telephone from Zurich, Switzerland.

Global 2000 Coordinating Group represents about 700 banks and financial institutions from around the world.

"I haven't found anyone, anywhere that had a problem. But that's no real surprise. The idea that nine nine ninety nine could cause a problem didn't seem to carry a lot of weight," said Mundt.

WATCH OUT FOR TRIGGER DATES

But Mundt is more concerned about the fall-out from other trigger dates including January 1, 2000, February 29, 2000, and October 10, 2000. Experts worry that February 29, 2000, might not be included on some computer programmes because of confusion over the 400 year-old formula used to decide leap years. 10/10/2000 will be the first eight digit date in the next millennium.

"This is a completely different issue. We are concerned about embedded systems as well as software and a lot more attention is being paid to this," he said.

BUSINESS AS USUAL

It was business as usual for phone and electricity firms. "We work on the basis that no news is good news and all I can tell you is that I did not hear a single squeak from our Year 2000 team today on anything untoward on nine nine ninety nine," said John Tar, spokesman for the United Nations' international Telecommunication Union in Geneva, Switzerland.

"Our main concern is the rollover from January 31 to January 1, 2000, and some other dates that go well into the twenty first century," Tar said.

In London, British Telecommunications Plc and Cable & Wireless reported a 9/9/99-related bug-free day. The Electricity Association, which represents Britain's principle electricity generators, was unaware of any problems.

But Ian Hugo, of Y2K pressure group Taskforce 2000, said any problems from 9/9/99 might not be apparent immediately. Four nines were used to give an "end of batch" command to stop accumulating data, so information that should be building up for later use might not be available when needed.

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No question about it, when they have to put this amount of spin on the 9999 question, they are in PANIC mode.

Ray

-- Ray (ray@totacc.com), September 09, 1999

Answers

This was a possible problem. Written in to old code. If the code was fixed for y2k then maybe they fixed it for 9/9/99. If it were correctly fixed then the date reads 09091999, or 991999, or 9-9-1999. This would negate the 9999 problem. But the date roll over is another monster that has no comparison. Just like the GPS satellites had nothing to do with y2k neither does the 9999 problem. They need to quit trying to compare apples and oranges. We are tired of being fed fruit salad.

-- dragoneyez (dragoneyez@mindspring.com), September 09, 1999.

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