Re: Y2K

["Michael C. Richardson" <mcr@sandelman.ottawa.on.ca>]

>>>>> "Jay" == Jay Hanson <j@qmail.com> writes:
    Jay> We migrated to IBM #1401.  It was a BCD machine -- not binary.  We
    Jay> had to maintain compatibility with our databases -- card files --
    Jay> thus, short dates.

  Fine.

    Jay> The cards for each year were stored separately, and we just changed
    Jay> the program each year.

    Jay> Habits die hard, the average life of a program back then was about
    Jay> three months.

  Like I said: "The systems were simply *NOT* engineered to last."

  Had the system stayed on the 1401, there would not be a y2k problem.
Why? Because "just changed the program each year."
  The problem was when it went to a non-card system, it probably was
not maintained anymore.