Monday, February 21, 2000 ENTERPRISE

Y2K experts ready to leap ALEX LO

Y2K specialists will gather one more time at the end of this month to prepare for the last of the serious rollover bugs. A variant of the millennium bug may strike at the midnight rollover to February 29.

Some computers may fail to recognise the leap year and roll over from February 28 to March 1.

The Government's co-ordinating centre will be operating, along with monitoring centres in 13 key sectors including telecommunications, emergency services, finance and banking.

The Productivity Council's principal information technology consultant, Roy Ko Wai-tak, said three computer rules dictated the calculation of leap years but some computers may not be properly programmed.

"Our experience on January 1 has been reassuring and has given us some confidence," he said, and he did not expect major problems.

The first two rules are that any year divisible by four is a leap year unless it is also divisible by 100, in which case it is not a leap year.

The last rule says if it is also divisible by 400, as well as by four and 100, such as the year 2000, then the year is a leap year.

The council will run a 24-hour centre with a telephone hotline 2788 6060 on February 28 and 29.

Hong Kong encountered only minor Y2K bug problems.

http://www.technologypost.com/enterprise/DAILY/20000221095603307.asp?Section=Main

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), February 21, 2000