`
`TECHNOLOGY : Computers Face 9/9/99 in a Warmup to Year
`2000
`
`By ASHLEY DUNN
`
`Sept. 8, 1999 12 AM PT
`
`TIMES STAFF WRITER
`
`A possible preview of the millennium bug is set to strike Thursday when computers
`will reach an unusual date that could cause some programs to malfunction.
`
`Thursday is the ninth day of the ninth month of the 99th year of the century--a date
`that is recorded on some computers as 9/9/99. Year 2000 experts have long warned
`about this date, since it was sometimes used in the early days of computer
`programming, back in the 1960s, to mark the end of a data file.
`
`As with the Y2K problem, few computer programmers back then thought their
`programs would survive until 1999 and could someday cause problems.
`
`
`
`Y2K repair work has routinely looked at this issue and most experts predict there will
`be few problems Thursday.
`
`“It’s not something that will bring the house down, by any stretch of the imagination,”
`said Kazim Isfahani, senior Y2K analyst for technology research and consulting firm
`Giga Information Group. “We don’t anticipate any problems.”
`
`Several other critical dates have come and gone with few problems. These include the
`beginning of fiscal 2000 on July 1; the 99th day of the year on April 9; and, on Aug.
`21, the rollover back to week zero for some receivers of the global positioning satellite
`system.
`
`“With the passing of each successive critical date, the risk goes down of something
`happening on Jan. 1,” Isfahani said. “It’s certainly a positive sign that we are moving
`in the right direction.”
`
`Beyond the well-publicized concerns related to the start of the year 2000, there are
`several other critical computer dates on the horizon. They include the beginning of
`the federal government’s fiscal 2000 on Oct. 1; the unusual leap year on Feb. 29,
`2000; and the 366th day of the year on Dec. 31, 2000, which some programs may not
`be able to handle.
`
`Ashley Dunn
`
`
`
`Ashley Dunn is the former weekend editor at the Los Angeles Times. He
`previously served as assistant managing editor in charge of California news.
`Dunn joined The Times in 1986 as a suburban reporter in the San Gabriel Valley and
`later moved to the Metro section, where he participated in coverage of the 1989 Loma
`Prieta earthquake and the 1992 Los Angeles riots. After a stint at the New York
`Times, Dunn returned to Los Angeles in 1998 as a reporter and then editor in The
`Times’ Business section. He later was named to run science coverage. He worked as
`deputy national editor from 2007 to 2011 and played a central role in the coverage of
`some of the biggest national stories of recent years, including the 2010 oil spill in the
`Gulf of Mexico and the 2008 election of President Obama. Prior to his career at The
`Times, Dunn worked at the South China Morning Post in Hong Kong, the Danbury
`News-Times in Connecticut and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Dunn is a California
`native who has worked as a dishwasher in Sacramento, a printer in San Francisco and
`a bicycle repairman in Walnut Creek. He has lived along the levees of the Sacramento
`Delta, the Powell-Hyde Street cable car line and the shaded streets of Pasadena. He is
`a graduate of UC Berkeley with a degree in English.
`
`Copyright © 2024, Los Angeles Times | Terms of Service | Privacy Policy | CA Notice of Collection | Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information
`
`
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