On 28 Sep 99, at 8:16, Richard Neimeyer wrote:

> Does anyone have any opinions regarding the Y2K fix software
> programs out there?
>
> I have been using the On Mark 2000 BIOS test and fix program with
> a certain degree of success.  However as you all know this is only
> a hardware fix and it may or may not be effective with date
> sensitive programs.
>
> Any thoughts?

  I can think of two important cases which may be encountered in
software that uses system-supplied date functions:

1.  The application may call on a Y2K-safe function, and then treat
the result in a non-Y2K-safe manner.

2.  The application may call on a non-Y2K-safe function, but then
apply windowing or some other such approach to fix the problem (at
least until 2030 or so).

  I do not -- based on twenty years of software development
experience -- believe it is practical for an external "fix" program
to reliably detect either of these cases.  And without detecting
them, I cannot see that such a program provides much of a "fix".

David G

         The PCBUILD web site always needs good submissions.  If
          you would like to contribute to the website, send any
               hardware tech tips or hardware reviews to:
                           [log in to unmask]