Tuesday, February 27, 2007

Y2K Déjà vu All Over Again

Alarm Clock
Time will tell if we make it through another computer network event like the computer clock rollover to the year 2000. Despite the millions of dollars spent on avoiding the Y2K catatrophe, a lot of software vendors still are struggling to catch up to 'the changing times'. Déjà vu.

March 11, 2007 is the big switch to daylight savings time. The problem is that it is occurring three weeks earlier than the past. A lot of software and PC chip devices such as PDAs and some smartphones are hard coded for a different date for time switchover.

Think you are safe because you bought a computer after 2000? Think again. If you happen to be using Windows NT4 (lots of businesses are), Windows 2000, or XP Service Pack 1, Microsoft will not be issuing patches for the problem on those older operating systems. You are on your own to manually change clocks from here on. That, or buy a new operating system. {hint, hint}

At least now you'll have an excuse for being late to that meeting on March 11.

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