I have a possible solution to the Y2K problem but I need the right E-Mail addresses to send it to. Bill Gates would be a good place to start. Any other programmers as well. If you have a good Valid contact address, please send it to me and inform them that the information will follow shortly.

-- Bryan (BRYGUYAA@AOL.COM), December 12, 1999

Answers

Have you checked the calendar recently?

478 hours...

-- counting down (the@hours.now), December 12, 1999.

Surely this is a joke.

-- Forrest Covington (theforrest@mindspring.com), December 12, 1999.

You are about 2 years to late!

-- joe hughes (gonewackie@aol.com), December 12, 1999.

Bill will ignore it. I suggest that you send it to Mike Adams over at Y2K Newswire

At the very least, he'll send you some junk e-mail. (:

-- (ladybuckeye_59@yahoo.com), December 12, 1999.

If you want to distribute your solution to as many entities as possible, you'll need to have an audience with some sizeable companies that have the means to market and distribute said solution. Let's say that you send an email to one of these companies. Some issues to consider, not necessarily in order...

1. The company in question must respond to your email/phone call. Lessay this takes a day or so...I'll be wildly optimistic here.
   
2. You have to pitch the product and provide a comprehensive report regarding system requirements (OS/platform, memory, etc.)...in addition, they're going to want information about your company's history, earnings/financials, and the staff/resources involved in developing the application. It's most likely that they'll want everything ON PAPER...to keep for their records, to pass on to their engineers, etc.
   
3. Now we're talking about non-disclosure agreements...the attornies involved must draw up papers, which must be reviewed, agreed upon and signed by both parties involved. If you have lots of money to wave around, whomever you hire for an attorney may jump on it...this step alone could take some considerable time..sometimes months, if the product has potential to be a killer app. You'll haggle over percentages, ownership of the product, and licensing...You worked hard to build it...don't let them steal your ideas.
   
4. Some companies won't even talk to you in depth if your company/enterprise doesn't have sizeable revenues/sales...since you're likely gonna chase a multinational to take advantage of their vast distribution network and marketing budgets, we'll make this low/optimistic...at least $500,000. If you're a startup, or created this in your basement, it's going to be a tough sell. But, if you believe in your product, don't give up.
   
5. They'll want to analyze your product, fly you in for a demo (or come out to see you...in that case, you'd better have some impressive facilities), and get to meet you in person. Given the time of year, you may not get an appointment right away.
   
6. They're not going to take your word...they'll want a copy of your app to test thoroughly, be it in controlled environments, and ideally conduct beta testing before release.
   
7. As for distribution, they'll need to package and ship, make arrangements with store chains and catalogs, if it's to be exposed to the largest possible audience. It's simple to say, "Slap it on your site"...but remember that not everyone uses the net.
   
8. As for publicity, there's not much time for that. Print requires a lead time of at least weeks, sometimes a couple of months if it's a monthly periodical..."stop the presses" events are very rare. At best, you could have some online reviews, but it will have to be impressive to get noticed in such a short period of time.
    
9. Nearly forgot...train the customer support team in case someone calls. Be sure to have lots of screen captures and pictures for your documentation. If you provide just plain 'ol text, you're bound to get calls. You'll have a user base whose skills could be from nihl to MCSE, so play it safe, and make it easy to use. Of course, you might want to have a test group/beta group go through the manual, do the install and follow the steps to make sure that it is accurate.
   

That's enough for now...I am not trying to discourage...just sharing experiences I've encountered myself and from others wanting to market their creations. Been there, done that. If you truly believe that you have a superior product, FOLLOW THAT DREAM....and have a good business plan by your side, chocked with break-even analyses, cash flow, expenditures, etc.

-- Tim (pixmo@pixelquest.com), December 12, 1999.

However, if you're talking about sharing a procedure, that's totally different... above likely won't apply. If it has the capability of performing ubiquitously, you may be on to something...definitely worth patenting if you had the time.

-- Tim (pixmo@pixelquest.com), December 12, 1999.

Tim, I am not interested in making any money or gaining notariety with this Idea. I am not doing this as a business or as part of a business. I am an individual with no ties to the computer industry other than "I own a PC".

My solution is so simple that it almost defies logic yet it is predicated entirely in logic.

I appreciate your responces to my thread. Any and all information on this subject will not be discounted in any fashion.

Thanks again. Bryan

-- BRYAN (BRYUYAA@AOL.COM), December 12, 1999.

Send it to Gary North. By the time Bill Gates implemented it, and sent out all the fixes for the implementation errors, it would be 2003 or 2004 before a working version was out.

-- Mad Monk (madmonk@hawaiian.net), December 12, 1999.

Bryan,

It's almost certain that somebody has already thought of whatever your idea is, but just in case they haven't and since your not interested in money...

POST SOLUTION HERE PLEASE

RonD

-- Ron Davis (rdavis@ozemail.com.au), December 12, 1999.

Subj: Simple Y2K Solution Date: 99-12-12 19:49:07 EST From: BRYGUYAA To: rdavis@ozemail.com.au

I have e-mailed this information to several persons already. Y2KNewsletter Gary North To name a few. I do not know if anyone has thought of (or tested) it yet or not. I am sending it all over the place though just in case. As you will see it is very simple to acomplish, and here it is...

Computers are "non-thinking" machines that can only produce data by following parameters preset by the programmers. They can only reach conclusions based upon the information which we feed into them to the limits predetermined by the logic of the program(s) being utilized.

It would therefore seem logical that the easiest solution to the Y2K bug situation would be to teach the computer system (BIOS etc.) that with respect to "dates" the progression is 01,02,03,04,...98,99,00,01,02,03......... This should serve to eliminate any problem with the computer "Thinking" that 2000 is 1900. The Computer simply will not care. It would see the 2 digit date change as the logical progression of facts.

This is simple enough to actually work and could be encoded in a matter of hours, distributed in days (via the internet) worldwide, and eliminate the problem once and for all.

Sincerely,

Bryan Anderson Santa Rosa, Calif.

-- Bryan (BRYGUYAA@AOL.COM), December 12, 1999.

Sighhhh.

Every complex problem has a simple solution...which is usually wrong.

-- LM (latemarch@usa.net), December 12, 1999.

He got one thing right. The computer will not care.

-- LM (latemarch@usa.net), December 12, 1999.

I've worked out the solution to y2k! ... Just make the computers function in such a way that they have no problem handling dates in the year 2000! It's simple!

I can't believe noone else has thought of this!

-- number six (!@!.com), December 12, 1999.

It would therefore seem logical that the easiest solution to the Y2K bug situation would be to teach the computer system (BIOS etc.) that with respect to "dates" the progression is 01,02,03,04,...98,99,00,01,02,03......... This should serve to eliminate any problem with the computer "Thinking" that 2000 is 1900. The Computer simply will not care. It would see the 2 digit date change as the logical progression of facts.

Hope springs eternal in the human breast; I thought maybe we'd see an original idea, however moronic it might be. Oh, well, there are only a couple of weeks before we won't see any more of these flashes of "genius".

-- Steve Heller (stheller@koyote.com), December 12, 1999.