Gary North's Y2K Links and Forums - Mirror

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Category: 

Personal_Computers

Date: 

1998-05-29 18:08:48

Subject: 

Compaq Says Its Technical Flaw Doesn't Really Matter

  Link:

http://www.news.com/News/Item/0,4,22535,00.html?st.ne.fd.mdh

Comment: 

Compaq answered ProveIt's criticism of the noncompliance of Compaq computers' real time clock by arguing that this flaw really doesn't matter.

In short, the real time clock is not "mission-critical."

We'll see in 2000, assuming anyone will still be in a position to care.

This is from C/NET (May 29).

* * * * * * * * *

Compaq Computer today confirmed claims by a U.K. firm that makes software fixing the Year 2000 bug that the PC maker's real-time clock inside its machines won't properly recognize dates after January 1, 2000, but insisted that this does not affect the overall performance of its PCs.

Compaq was responding to a statement released yesterday by a British company, Prove It 2000, that it has filed a complaint with the U.K. advertising standards body over claims by the PC maker that its machines are fully prepared for the millennium. . . .

In a statement released today, Compaq found fault with Prove It 2000's charge that it had not alerted its customers about the issue of the Real Time Clock. "In a major white paper titled 'Preparing for the Year 2000,' released in 1997 and updated in January 1998, Compaq did just that, stating: 'Any applications that bypasses the OS and ROM BIOS to obtain date and data directly from the RTC may receive an incorrect date," the company said. . . .

"Applications that obtain data directly from the RTC may exist but, to the extent they do not contain logic to adjust for the actual date, violate basic PC programming principles."

Link: 

http://www.news.com/News/Item/0,4,22535,00.html?st.ne.fd.mdh

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