We're doomed. Doomed! DOOMED!!!
Posted on 02/05/2005 9:22:39 AM PST by ATOMIC_PUNK
You made it through Y2K, but will you make it through Y2038 (also called Y2.038K)? So why did Y2K go so smoothly? And what is the difference with Y2038?
In Y2K, computers still kept perfect time. The only issue was that software that used only the last two digits of the year had trouble determining that 00 really was greater than 99. It was just a matter of fixing software to use the full year value as it should have to begin with.
But, Y2038 is entirely different. In Y2K, computers still kept perfect time and internally had no problem with the roll-over to year 2000. But not so with Y2038! In Y2038, computers are going to forget how to tell time and for many will roll-back to the year 1970!
This isn't limited to just PCs but many other devices as well. The specs on my wristwatch says that it even stops in 2038!
The problem is that some "intelligent" person years ago used a long signed integer to store the date in the PC as being the number of seconds from midnight January 1st of 1970. The problem is that those 31 bits (31 instead of 32 because of the sign bit) only last until 18 January 2038 at 19:14:07 (for all time zones). At that point the number is too large to fit in a signed integer, overflows, and rolls back.
Why not just add more bits? Well, the problem isn't limited to just software, but many hardware devices also have this limitation.
How do you fix it? Well, you'll have to buy new software for every program you own! And, most all of the computers and hardware will have to be replaced as well!
Can you start fixing it now? The answer is NO. Hardware and software vendors are still developing using this year 2038 limitation.
My conclusion as to why everyone is still developing with this limitation are that 1) it would take quite an effort to start implementing a fix and 2) [probably the more correct reason] by not implementing a fix now, people can make more money. Think about it, not only will people make money on the software and hardware they develop now, but several years from now, they have automatic sales generated by the fact that everyone will be forced to buy new software and hardware. Plus, by waiting to the last minute, not only is there more sales, but they get paid bigger bucks because of the urgency of the problem!
Don't believe me? Well, listen to what Microsoft says: Dr. GUI on the Year 2038 Bug.
However, in that article he incorrectly states that there is currently a work around that solves the problem by using COleDateTime. In a followup article, he explains why that doesn't work: More on the Y2.038K Bug.
Conclusion: Be prepared for Y2038! It is a much much more serious problem than Y2K ever was. Be prepared to spend lots of money and be prepared for all of the problems once predicted for Y2K to actually happen!!
What to look for: http://www.merlyn.demon.co.uk/critdate.htm
How to fix it: http://www.exit109.com/~ghealton/y2k/yrexamples.html
http://www.geocities.com/thestarman3/perl/perly2k.htm
http://pw2.netcom.com/~rogermw/Y2038.html
http://linuxfinances.info/info/unix2038.html
http://vancouver-webpages.com/time/Y2K38.html
http://www.phpinsider.com/php/code/Date_Calc/
http://www.silurian.com/gawp/fomg7.htm
http://www.codeguru.com/Cpp/Cpp/cpp_mfc/article.php/c775/ http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Unix%20epoch
http://www.precisioninfo.com/index.php?doc_id=59
Mars Rover crashes, reports year as 2038 (see paragraph under heading "Condition Red") - http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/spotlight/20040831.html
http://archives.hwg.org/hwg-techniques/200001052338.AAA08753@ck-sg.p.lodz.pl
[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]
Condition Red
The team was working on Mars time, in a building at JPL isolated from the California time of day by blackout shades on the windows. It was nighttime for the Spirit rover and nighttime for Spirit’s handlers.
"Sleeping and eating were optional," said Adler. "There were cots we could sleep on in our offices. This was our one objective, our primary objective in our lives, was to get our spacecraft back."
The next transmissions from Spirit were garbled. The rover was babbling, doing things like sending nonsensical communications that it date-stamped as being from the year 2038.
2038 The Year Kennedy Assasination breifs to be released ?
And by then 95 percent of technology in use will have been re-developed.
The sky is falling! The sky is falling!
I think thirty-three years will be plenty of time. LOL
In 33 years the tech will be so high you will need a ladder to get up there and see it. :)
And if it isn't, I'll be 93 then and somehow I don't think this will be a problem for me
"Whatchyou talkin' 'bout, PUNK?"
Start buying Spam now.
OHMYGOD! You mean I can't use the same computer and software the way I have for the last 40 years? I love my IBM 1620 - and you'll only remove my card reader from my cold, dead arms!
Well, maybe. Or maybe it are because no one are going to be using the same hardware or software in 30 years that they is using now.
2038 The Year Kennedy Assasination breifs to be released ?
Ohhhhhhh...I see.
If I am still using the same hardware in 2038 as I am now please someone kill me.
I just love posting these kinds of threads i cant help myself !
33 years ... hmmmm ... 23 years ago I was using WordStar on a multiuser CPM machine using 64K Z-80 processors - and with a whopping 10 meg hard drive that was the size of a breadbox. Televideo terminal and a daisy-wheel printer finished the package.
Will my Tandy 2000 be effected?
The first step is to realize you are powerless over your addiction and that your life has become unmanageable.
I figure that the 38 cases I currently have left from Y2K should still be good then.
Having a little fun with us, atomic?
And Velveeta, "The Cheese That Cannot Die".
Now you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup, You put water into a bottle, it becomes the bottle, You put it in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Now water can flow or it can crash! Be water, my friend.--Bruce Lee
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