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Year 1999 Bug? (8/16/98)
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Forget Year 2000 compliance; Windows 98 isn't even fully Year 1999-compliant. According to a ZDNet report, Microsoft has acknowleged an "issue" where Windows 98 computers rebooted during a specific split-second just before midnight of January 1st will either "leap forward two days or fall behind a day." Happy New Year!
Now, since the bug (er, issue) only affects people who will reboot their systems in some less-than-a-second window between 11:59 and midnight of the new year, it's unlikely to cause any real havoc. Indeed, it should only affect those who are rebooting their computer just before midnight instead of celebrating the new year, and some would argue that those people pretty much deserve a date bug to make them re-evaluate their life choices. (Then again, those of you who aren't rebooting your computers, but instead are getting blitzed and making fools of yourselves at some party may experience the same "What day is it?" phenomenon the next morning-- only without a computer.) In fact, Microsoft will probably have a fix out by the time this episode is broadcast.
But what this bug issue really illustrates is that Microsoft still can't seem to write clean code. How hard is it to get a date algorithm right? Microsoft's OS has gotten so ubiquitous that they don't have to do things correctly, because people will buy the product anyway. Simply amazing. For those of you who recall author Douglas Adams' proposed Apple slogan at the last MacWorld Expo, perhaps we should amend it slightly. His original version was "Apple Computer: They may not have gotten everything right, but at least they knew the century was going to end." In light of the new Microsoft issue (hey, got it right on the first try that time!), we propose changing that last bit to "at least they knew the year was going to end."
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SceneLink (943)
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And Now For A Word From Our Sponsors |
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 | | The above scene was taken from the 8/16/98 episode: August 16, 1998: iMac Day barely dodged a bullet, as several dealers received their iMacs just in the nick of time (though others weren't so lucky). Meanwhile, Microsoft acknowledges that Windows 98 has "issues" when rebooted just before midnight of the new year, and a new star of Apple's show vanishes just minutes before introduction, and no one's talking about what exactly happened...
Other scenes from that episode: 942: Missing In Action (8/16/98) iMac Day has come and gone, and only the memories (and the balloons, t-shirts, posters, iMacfied web sites, billboards, TV and radio ads, and magazine pullouts-- oh, and iMacs) remain. We hope you all had a pleasant day, and those of you who are fortunate enough to be the proud owner of a new iMac have reason to be beaming with joy... 944: The Chips Are Out There (8/16/98) Was it a case of alien abduction, or just a Hoffa-style joint hit by the Mafia and the government working together? Either way, the new Power Macintosh G3/366 was scheduled to make a formal appearance last Wednesday to take its position as the new speed leader in Apple's lineup, only to vanish without a trace...
Or view the entire episode as originally broadcast... | |  |
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