How are Microsoft's Products most Vulnerable to Year 2000 Problems?

        The most common hardware problem is associated with the BIOS (Basic Input/Output System) of the PC. The BIOS is responsible for providing the basic information that the computer needs to boot. It also contains one of the critical clocks used by the PC. The most common hardware problem presented by the Year 2000 has to do with the proper roll of the first two digits of the century portion of the date from "19" to "20." For a BIOS that is affected by this problem, it is possible to properly function once the date is properly set to 2000. The difficulty is in getting it there. The PC real-time clock keeps track of the time and date. The BIOS receives time/date information from the real-time clock in a two-digit century format. The BIOS then adds the necessary bits to store the date in four digits. When the date changes from "99" to "00" but the century bits do not change from "19" to "20," the operating system sees 1900 instead of 2000. Microsoft operating systems do not recognize 1900 and automatically reset the system clock to 1980, our base date. The change of date suddenly to 1980 is one of the best ways to identify this iteration of the BIOS problem. By understanding what the error result will be, organizations will be able to identify problem machines quickly. Once the broken machines are identified, repair of those systems can begin.

        A BIOS fix has been inserted into the newer Microsoft Operating Systems to help alleviate this problem. Windows NT 3.51(sp5), Windows NT 4.0, Windows 98 and Windows NT 5.0 all have logic built into them that will recognize 1900 as an error case and will automatically compensate by setting the date to 2000. The Microsoft BIOS correction mechanism will only correct the most common BIOS issue described above.

        There are other BIOS problems that we do not compensate for. For example, some BIOS's revert back to 1900 every time the system reboots. For all of the year 2000, the Microsoft fix will set the clock to 2000 every boot. When that system reaches 2001 and it resets itself to 1901, Microsoft’s fix will not recognize it as a Year 2000 problem and will revert back to the base date of 1980. Other BIOS's have error handling built into them that resets a 1900 date before our operating system begins to interact with the BIOS. If that date is a valid date, such as 1993, then the Microsoft operating system will assume that it is correct. Microsoft recommends that all BIOS platforms be identified and tested to ensure functionality beyond 2000. To see Microsoft’s recommendations on how to address this issue, please see Question 14 below, What are Microsoft’s recommendations for working with the PC BIOS issue?

        It is important for the customer to identify all operating systems being used and obtain appropriate Year 2000 information. The Microsoft Product Guide discusses specific date handling for Microsoft operating systems.

        Microsoft operating systems all store and manipulate dates in four-digit formats. Additionally, the system clocks have been designed to recognize the year 2000 as a leap year. Within the operating system, the file systems have been designed to handle dates beyond the year 2000 as well. The File Allocation Table (FAT) 16bit and 32bit versions used by MS-DOS, Windows, Windows 95 and Windows NT recognizes dates up to 2108. The File Allocation Table for the Windows CE operating system recognizes dates up to 2999. The Windows NT File System (NTFS) recognizes dates to 29,601.

        Some applications have internal calendars that could miscalculate the leap year; others may force a two-digit date, depending on the manufacturer of that particular application. Microsoft applications that store and manipulate dates do so in four digits. We calculate the year 2000 as a leap year. We do not use any special date codes.

        Runtime Libraries are files that provide functionality to applications. Users do not directly interact with runtime libraries; rather, it is the user’s actions with an application that utilize runtimes. There is interdependency between the runtime libraries and applications. By loading a Windows application you are using runtime libraries. It is possible, though, that you can be running an application such as Excel and then add a third-party product that provides yet another runtime library. If that is the case, the dependency roles are reversed. If a runtime library mishandles the date, it does not matter if the application, operating system or BIOS were designed properly. The environment is still not ready. Therefore, it is possible for a non-Microsoft runtime library to be used in conjunction with a Microsoft application and for it to break the Microsoft application.

        Custom code is the largest exposure to Year 2000 problems on any platform. Many organizations have in-house or contracted programmers developing custom applications that better meet business needs. Due to non-standard programming practices throughout the software development community, date handling is not consistent and will need to be examined on an application-by-application basis.

        An example problem in custom code would be if someone placed a two-digit date in a text string and then based a calculation on that date. The application would have no way of interpreting those two digits as a date. As a result, the calculation could be wrong. If this were done in VBA to enhance an Office application it could lead to date handling problems. Even though the application (eg: Excel) is handling dates correctly, the VBA custom code could cause it to malfunction.

        An end-to-end view of the organization is the best way to deal with understanding problems with data interfaces. The PC platform in an organization may be just fine for the year 2000. Yet, if there is an interface from that PC to a legacy system that is not working properly with dates, the information placed into the PC environment can cause problems.

        The PC is just one step of many in some organizations’ information processing. The interfaces between the PC and other platforms must be understood, inventoried, analyzed, fixed, and tested, just like any other portion of the Year 2000 project.

        On Microsoft’s Year 2000 web site (http://www.microsoft.com/year2000/), there is a Tools Guide that will assist customers in finding resources to help with the problems mentioned above. The information available for the listed tools outline what the tool does and how it can help an organization.

Custom code:

In any computing environment, custom code represents the largest exposure to year 2000 issues.

Excel Spreadsheets:

Excel is the most-often customized application released by Microsoft. Furthermore, the use of dates in Excel is very common.

Hardware:

Although Microsoft produces very little hardware, we are dependent upon the health of the PC platform. Please see above for a description of the BIOS problem.

Data Interfaces:

The PC is the window to the world’s data. If a backend system has a problem and passes bad data (or no data) to the PC, it will initially appear that the PC failed. The result may be a perception that the Microsoft products caused the problem. In reality, the issue lies elsewhere.

This Information has been provided By: Microsoft
Disclaimer