Re: Petroleum and Y2K

Chris Olds (cco@dydax.com)
Fri, 8 Oct 1999 10:05:17 -0700


The question that came up for me as I read this page is this:

Why does an embedded controller care what day it is?

If these controllers are so deeply integrated into the 24/7/365 operations
of systems that cannot be shut down without enormous expense, why should
they care what the date is? There is a huge difference between "cannot be
readily replaced or reprogrammed" and "will probably fail". In fact, I
would think that the former would make the latter less likely. The fact
that a toaster controller has not been evaluated for Y2K compliance does not
imply an inability to heat baked goods on 2000-01-01.

/cco