SECTION 1
part 1
part 2
SECTION 2
part 1
part 2
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Tick, tick, tick ... The Year 2000 is coming soon, and the education community must
be prepared. At stake is the utility and preservation of the information systems and data
that all entities, public and private, that have automated their work processes rely on to
function.The Year 2000 (Y2K) problem resulted from a common programming practice, begun
in the 1960s, to represent dates with six digits instead of eight (010198 vs. 01011998).
This shorthand saved disk space and thus money. Unfortunately, because the first two
digits of the year are omitted, programs assume that each date entry is a date in the 20th
century. No one imagined that the software programs created then would still be in use in
2000.
The problem is exacerbated by the fact that dates are located everywhere in programs,
and no one can forecast how an application will respond to dates from other centuries
without evaluation and analysis.
Y2K problems can also affect personal computers, local area networks,
telecommunications systems, and systems and equipment that use embedded technology, such
as fire alarm systems, heating and cooling systems, elevators, and telephone switching
equipment.
The following web sites are provided as tools that may be useful to all entities
addressing the Y2K challenge. |
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