Re: No Y2k Bug

[David Barts <n5jrn@ricochet.net>]

Ron Newman wrote:
> 
> In article <386c981c@news.iprolink.co.nz>, David McLoughlin
> <davemcl@AXE*THISiprolink.co.nz> wrote:
> 
> > Hi all
> >
> > Just again to let you know from Auckland, the first city where the
> > computers rolled over, that NOTHING happened. The Y2K Bug is the hoax I
> > have long claimed.
> 
> I also think nothing is going to happen, but we should all wait
> until after midnight GMT to be sure.  Computers run on Greenwich
> Mean Time, not local time.

This generalization is useless.  "Computers" run a huge variety of
operating systems (and embedded applications on those that don't have
an OS).  A majority, but not all, of computers have real-time clocks.
Those without clocks cannot have Y2K issues, period.  What time zone
those with clocks use depends on the OS/embedded app (and in some
cases the firmware or hardware) that is running the computer.  Some,
like UNIX and most UNIX-workalike systems use Greenwich time.  Some,
like most Micro$oft OS's, use local time.  Generally, on systems that
have clocks in GMT (actually UTC, but that's picking a nit), there
is a concept of a local timezone and a set of calls that convert the
system's clock into local time; applications software on these can
use either UTC or local time depending on what was most convenient
for the programmer.

-- 
           David W. Barts (davidb@scn.org) / http://www.scn.org/~davidb
                               Oakland, CA, USA