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Programs by Thomas Hövel Software and Year 2000
I am sure that all my programs will work in the year 2000 and far beyond that.
My screen saver family The Lights Go Down does not perform any calculations based on dates (except for the nag-screen in the shareware version). So there cannot be any problem with year 2000.
Year 2000 Problems with PC-BIOS: The clock in a Standard PC only works with two-digit years; the BIOS stores the four-digit year inside the clock memory, but the clock is not aware of this. It is up to the PC BIOS or the operating system to correct this problem. New PCs will handle this automatically. Old PCs need manual correction of the date once. Very few PCs have a BIOS that doesn't allow manual transition to year 2000.
Mathematical Point of View: There is no year 0. After 1 B.C., we
directly have year 1 A.D. - hence the first decade spans the years 1 through 10; the
second decade started with year 11. The first century spans the years 1 through 100, the
second century started 101. The first millennium spans the years 1 through 1000, the
second millennium the years 1001 through 2000, the thrid millennium the years 2001 through
3000.
The third millennium and the 21st century begin 1.1.2001!
Roman Catholic Point of View: A priest said in a TV show that the new millennium started on the 25th of December 1999 when the Pope opens one of the holy gates in Rome. This would mean that Jesus was born in the year 2 afore Himself ...
Historic Point of View: Herodes is said to have died 4 B.C. - and
Jesus was born during Herodes government, some folks say. Astronomers rather believe in 4
B.C. or 7 B.C.
Bible historians favour 2 B.C.
A Non-Mathematical Point of View: A German tabloid published an
overview of the 20 centuries. The first century spanned the years 1 through 99, the second
century the years 100 through 199, the third spanned 200 through 299, and so forth.
This would mean we have a new century and a new millennium begining on the 1st of January
2000.
Too bad that there are only 99 years in the first century according to this method of
counting ...
My Personal Point of Viewt: The 3rd millennium begins on the 1st of January 2001 - mathematically. The new millennium is meaningless because year 1 was arbitrarily set.
There were some minor problems - many of them not on New Years day ...
There were problems with some credit-card-cash-systems. This problem was discovered in 1996 when the first cards valid thru 01/00 appeared. New cards with a two-year-period were handed out so they had one year to solve that problem.
A library sent letters for books lent in December 1999. Current date was '99, due date was '00, so the books were 99 years overdue. The library's software was y2k compliant - except for one program module ...
One German city sent tax bills in December 1999. Current date was '99, tax was due '00, so they added interest for 99 years (interest was higher than the original tax, of course ...)
So check all your bills carefully!!!
© Thomas Hövel Software, August 25, 2002 [Imprint]