http://invest.insidechina.com/markets.php3?id=91455

-- Linkmeister (link@librarian.edu), September 13, 1999

Answers

[Fair Use: For Educational/Research Purposes Only]

9999 Computer Glitch Chief Suspect In Chinese Exchange Failure

SHANGHAI, Sep 10, 1999 -- (Agence France Presse) A computer failure likely caused by the "all nines" date glitch has forced the indefinite closure of China's only automated exchange for corporate shares, authorities said Friday.

The announcement came as initial reports from around the world indicated that fears the bug caused by Thursday's 9/9/99 date -- a relative of the Y2K or millennium bug -- would cause havoc were largely unfounded.

"Because problems have appeared on the Net system, we must shut down equipment for repair," said the Central Treasury Bond Registration and Settlement Co. (CTBRS) which runs the system, in an announcement published in the official China Securities daily.

The firm said repair work had already begun but it could not yet say when trading would resume.

An company engineer confirmed that the problem emerged with the main computer on Thursday, when experts warned the all nines date could cause some older computers to shut down.

CTBRS earlier this week ordered Net system trading suspended on Thursday because of suspicions that such a problem might emerge.

"We still cannot definitively confirm the cause but it could be 99 related," the engineer said.

The computer that failed was an IBM model AS400 dating from 1992 or 1993, he said.

Other company officials blamed the breakdown squarely on the nines glitch.

"The main computer went down yesterday because of the 9999 problem," one said.

Chinese government experts earlier said only decades-old systems used to automate factory production were expected to be vulnerable to the bug.

Warnings were issued after it was suspected some programs could mistake the "9999" date for an end-of-file command sequence used in some software to bring certain processes to an end.

The Y2K glitch is also date-related but stems from some systems' inability to distinguish between the years 2000 and 1900. ((c) 1999 Agence France Presse)

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-- Linkmeister (link@librarian.edu), September 13, 1999.

This is hopeful news. Wouldn't it be poetic justice if the nuclear secrets they stole from us became useless because of Y2K?

-- mike (maples@voy.net), September 13, 1999.

China likes dragon.s----satan is called the old-dragon.what you worship' is what you get.--flame on dragon breath.

-- veree interesting, (dogs@zianet.com), September 14, 1999.

China likes dragon.s----satan is called the old-dragon.what you worship' is what you get.--flame on dragon breath.satan is also called>the god of this world.CLUE get out of his kingdom while you can.

-- veree interesting, (dogs@zianet.com), September 14, 1999.