(no subject)

[Mark Jones]

        Millennium test
    exposes date fault in
           Windows 98

                 David Parsley


 PURCHASERS of Microsoft's new Windows 98
 personal computer operating system could face
 havoc as a result of a bug that causes it to
 malfunction when the year changes. It is unrelated
 to the millennium bug although software designed
 to spot millennium-bug problems first exposed the
 problem.

 Microsoft has been aware of the date-related
 problem since the launch of Windows 98 in June.
 It has failed to notify purchasers of the product,
 which replaces Windows 95, but it is now moving
 to tackle the issue and has teamed up with Prove
 It 2000, a British software house.

 Richard Coppel, chief executive of Prove It 2000,
 confirmed that the problem was not related to the
 millennium bug. He said: "There is is an anomaly
 with Windows 98 that affects the date on the
 system. We have tested the program by setting the
 date at just 30 seconds before December 31. The
 year does not matter, which is why it is not a
 millennium problem. It can be any year in any
 century. When the clocks tick past midnight into
 the next year we have found the program either
 leaps two days forward or one day back."

 Such a problem could cause computers to perform
 tasks at incorrect times. This would have
 potentially damaging consequences in financial
 institutions, which programme transactions such as
 money transfers months in advance.

 While Microsoft's British subsidiary confirmed
 that a date problem with Windows 98 did exist, its
 American parent would not comment. It is not the
 first problem the group has had with the package
 but unless it is remedied, it could be the most
 damaging.

 Bill Gates, Microsoft's chairman, is involved in a
 legal battle with the American government as a
 result of the Windows 98 launch. It has accused
 him of trying to crush rivals and monopolise
 access to the Internet by incorporating a web
 browser in the package.

--
Mark Jones
http://www.geocities.com/~comparty