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y2k#2

Facts about Y2K Bug

Facts that make the Y2K bug.

This bug is due to the fact that the computer systems may see the transaction date of an operation as a two-digit year instead of four digits.  By this we mean that computers will see the year 1999 as '99 and year 2000 as '00.  Since the birth of computers took place in 19xx (1975 for Personal Computers, and 1980 for IBM compatibles, the origination date most PCs recognize is set at 1980.  Most others are set to recognize a year in 19xx, (where xx is a year in this century).  The computer designers simply did not think about the change of the century.  Of course, birth and design of computers was a great accomplishment and very exiting task hence, it was easy to over look the century changes.

 How does this change effect us?

Let's say you opened a checking account in 1998 and now the date is 01/15/2000.  Today, you have issued a check and it is submitted for processing.   When your bank of Federal Reserve's computer is going to process it  (if the computer does not recognize a four-digit year), it will not process the check for many reasons.  For example; the check date is before the account establishment date, the check is too old, or many other reasons.

 Let's use an example for a computer system used in an insurance company.   Although all insurance companies have PCs, but their claim processing is performed by computers larger and older than PCs.  Let's consider the case that the computer used in an insurance company's office, which is paying for a medical claim, does not recognize the four-digit year.  Furthermore, the date of the claim is 02/10/2000 (where the system will see this as 02/10/00) and the insured date of birth is any day in 19xx (let's say 11/12/1975).  The computer will reject the claim leaving the Service provider unpaid.  The simplest reason that this claim is rejected is because the system sees the claim date to be before the DOB. 

 Eventually, in every area of business where a computer affects our daily lives and data processing requires date transaction, the process will be terminated, or reaches a difficult processing stage, unnecessarily repeat the same processing steps, or simply halting the transaction altogether.

 Summary:

The Y2K problems are caused by the digital computers which may not recognize the year 2000 and beyond or re not able to process transaction where the four-digit year is required.  It means, at the turn of the century, the computer will confuse itself and see the year 2000 as the year 00, which in turn will translate, as 1900 for some computers.  By doing so, the computers will alter transaction processing in the situation where date processing is critical and effective.

Do not run around  spending your money just because someone or some company says, "we have a product that will help you."    Tri-Comp has  an answer  for you for under fifty (50 ) US dollars.  Of course, you may wish to receive additional material about specific topics, in which case we encourage you to call us at (706) 798-8888 or  you may prefer to e-mail us at sales@TriCompInc.Org.