Let NSF address the Facts on Y2K!

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I ran across this on the The National Science Foundation website. Thought you all might be interested. It is from a page titled YEAR 2000 MYTHS AND FACTS and it is posted as a Y2K resource to the researchers who are funded by NSF grants.

Mike

http://www.nsf.gov/oirm/y2k/myths.htm

______________________________ YEAR 2000 MYTHS AND FACTS

The following piece concerns the general year 2000 problem, that is, not just as it pertains to a university researcher but as it pertains to a large industry or government agency as well. We include it here to provide you with a wider understanding of the overall problem in the hope that this will be helpful when you examine the systems that support your particular funded activities.

Many common beliefs about the Year 2000 computer problem--also known as "the millennium bug" or simply "Y2K"--are marked by simplistic assumptions. To effectively address this problem, it must first be better understood. Below are brief statements of some common Y2K myths and their corresponding facts. For additional explanation of any of these pairs, select the MORE link.

Myth: Y2K is easy to understand and straightforward to fix.

Fact: Y2K is hard to understand and difficult to fix.

MORE

Myth: The Y2K problem is an event that occurs at midnight on December 31, 1999.

Fact: The Y2K problem has already begun and will exist long after January 1, 2000.

MORE

Myth: Y2K is primarily about how systems are designed.

Fact: Y2K is primarily about how systems are used, maintained, and evolve over time.

MORE

Myth: Y2K is about preventing systems from failing and assuring that they give correct answers.

Fact: Y2K is about assuring that systems behave as they have always behaved (i.e. that they behave "invariantly").

MORE

Myth: Y2K is about replacing old code and hardware.

Fact: Y2K is about minimizing potential harm from the century ambiguity of dates.

MORE

-- Mike (justmike11@yahoo.com), July 10, 1999

Answers

Thank you!!!

So the NSF has their own take on the Bug. Wonder why this has never been reported....Is there more? Do I have to be a researcher to access the site???



-- K. Stevens (kstevens@It's ALL going away in January.com), July 10, 1999.


Link:
NSF: Year 2000 Information - MYTHS AND FACTS


-- No Spam Please (nos_pam_please@hotmail.com), July 10, 1999.

I am spending all of next week cloistered in the mountains with, among a handful of young scientists, an NSF program director. I know he's a polly, but I've asked him to fish around the agency for me. (Maybe talk to "Cancer Man".) I will update y'all when I get back in late July.

-- Dave (aaa@aaa.com), July 10, 1999.

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