TECHNOLOGY : Computers Face 9/9/99 in a Warmup to Year 2000
A possible preview of the millennium bug is set to strike Thursday when computers will reach an unusual date that could cause some programs to malfunction.
Thursday is the ninth day of the ninth month of the 99th year of the century--a date that is recorded on some computers as 9/9/99. Year 2000 experts have long warned about this date, since it was sometimes used in the early days of computer programming, back in the 1960s, to mark the end of a data file.
As with the Y2K problem, few computer programmers back then thought their programs would survive until 1999 and could someday cause problems.
Y2K repair work has routinely looked at this issue and most experts predict there will be few problems Thursday.
“It’s not something that will bring the house down, by any stretch of the imagination,” said Kazim Isfahani, senior Y2K analyst for technology research and consulting firm Giga Information Group. “We don’t anticipate any problems.”
Several other critical dates have come and gone with few problems. These include the beginning of fiscal 2000 on July 1; the 99th day of the year on April 9; and, on Aug. 21, the rollover back to week zero for some receivers of the global positioning satellite system.
“With the passing of each successive critical date, the risk goes down of something happening on Jan. 1,” Isfahani said. “It’s certainly a positive sign that we are moving in the right direction.”
Beyond the well-publicized concerns related to the start of the year 2000, there are several other critical computer dates on the horizon. They include the beginning of the federal government’s fiscal 2000 on Oct. 1; the unusual leap year on Feb. 29, 2000; and the 366th day of the year on Dec. 31, 2000, which some programs may not be able to handle.
