Y2K38 Watch Starts Saturday

Jon Masters writes "I just wanted to remind everyone that Saturday, January 19th 2008 will mark the beginning of the 30-year countdown to the Y2K38 bug, when Unix time will overflow 32 bits. Some 30-year loan calculation software might start having problems with this over the weekend."

Comments

I can't wait!

[ucblockhead]

I plan on making a mint using my mad C skillz in 2036 and 2037, just like all those Cobol guys who came out of retirement in 1998.

Now if I can find a bank open on Saturday

[Actually, I do RTFA]

I can get a thirty-year $250,000 loan with monthly payments of -$1,200.

Re:Now if I can find a bank open on Saturday

[risk one]

Just hope they're using signed ints to store that value.

Re:Now if I can find a bank open on Saturday

[bee-17]

Just today in the mail, I got a letter from Countrywide pitching a home loan:

YOUR ESTIMATED EQUITY MAY BE AS MUCH AS $-48,331

Coincidence?

Re:Now if I can find a bank open on Saturday

[Actually, I do RTFA]

Just hope they're using signed ints to store that value.

Actually, I think they use floats. See, I wrote this program to - everytime there is a transaction where interest is computed, and there are millions a day, this program rounds it down to the nearest cent and puts the remainder in an account...

Re:Hmmmmmm

[nullCRC]

No, that was me. Sorry.

30 years?

[Hatta]

Remind me again when it's 30 minutes.

Envy

[argmanah]

I envy the programmers who had the foresight to program their application using a 2 digit year field. They won't have to worry have to worry about this problem until 2099, and by then we won't be using the same systems we do today anyways!

January 19, 2038

[Malevolent Tester]

Is this going to affect the Duke Nukem Forever release?

Re:maybe vba has a chance to live then

[ari_j]

The phrase "your an idiot" is one of my favorites almost in the English language.

Re:My date of birth

[scaverdilly]

Yeah, but 1234567890 comes just short of Feb 14th in a year (Fri, 13 Feb 2009 23:31:30 UTC).
It just goes to show that true geeks will only ever almost get close enough to women for romanitc encounters.

I don't give a shit

[Anonymous Coward]

I don't give a shit. And I mean that in the most literal, non-idiomatic way. If I had a pile of turds in my back yard, and you were to walk up to me and say, "Excuse me, sir, if you would let me relieve you of one of these useless pieces of feces I could guarantee a resolution to the Y2K38 computer issue," I would simply reply, "I'm sorry, but those are my shits, and I'm not giving one."

Re:I don't give a shit

[Chris Burke]

I don't give a shit. And I mean that in the most literal, non-idiomatic way. If I had a pile of turds in my back yard, and you were to walk up to me and say, "Excuse me, sir, if you would let me relieve you of one of these useless pieces of feces I could guarantee a resolution to the Y2K38 computer issue," I would simply reply, "I'm sorry, but those are my shits, and I'm not giving one."

You are clearly a person who has their shit together.

Re:And other things..

[moderatorrater]

Yeah, kind of like how Christ was born so close to the changeover from BC to AD.

Re:And other things..

[Bob-taro]

You can come up with any number of numerological associations for any event. Seriously. Try it some time. Pick any event, and you can come up with a dozen, if you try.

Really?! So there are always at least 12 numerological associations with every event in history?! OMG, I'm totally freaking out!!!11!1!

Re:2038!?!!

[mwburden]

At least until your pacemaker calculates that it doesn't need to beat again for 30 years....

Re:Unix is made of *FAIL*

[WilliamSChips]

As a coincidence, nobody has actually used VMS in over a decade.

Re:2048

[Anonymous Coward]

Your mom stores years as 11-bit integers.

Re:And other things..

[Cajun Hell]

You can come up with any number of numerological associations for any event. Seriously. Try it some time. Pick any event, and you can come up with a dozen, if you try.

Interesting that of all the numbers you could have mentioned, you just happened to pick dozen: the number of eggs that are most often sold together. This suggests you are a chicken farmer. Your uid is another clue: 853723. 8+5+3+7+2+3=28. 28 % 12 = 4, which happens to be your comment's score at the time I type this. 853723 %12 = 7. You bring your eggs to market every week.

Look at all I have learned about you. And you think numerology doesn't work.

Re:And other things..

[Skreems]

Ah, but 172800 seconds is significant. 1+7+2+8+0+0 = 18, which is (9*1)+(9*1), which is 9(1+1). 9/11!

Re:Incorrect....

[poot_rootbeer]

In any case, fixing the basis library and recompileing is enough for properly implemented software.

Whew! It's a good thing most software is properly implemented, then.

Whew! Good thing everyone uses Windows!

[davido42]

Why would anyone be using an OS written for scientists? They're all weird and stuff.

IRA

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah my wife contributes to the IRA through some guy called Charles Schwab. I am surprised that guy hasn't been sent to Gitmo for funding a terrorist organisation.

Re:And other things..

[JonathanR]

The instruction at 0x49790053 referenced memory at 0x49790053.
The memory could not be read.
Click OK to terminate the program.

Re:And other things..

[Arthur Grumbine]

And of course "12" is composed of the digits 1 and 2.
1+1=2
1*2=2
2/1=2
1+2=1
2^1=2
What does this all add up to...?
9
But don't forgot...
9 + 1*2 = 11
Who has a UID with 9 as it's most common digit?! Bob-taro!!
Whose UID without the 9s = 6+8+8 = 22, That's TWO 2s. 22 divided by 2...you guessed it... 11.
That's right...9...11. 9/11!!!
Who had the most to gain from 9/11?! Bob-taro!!
Who brought down the towers?! Bob-taro!!
Who fired a cruise missile into the Pentagon!? Bob-taro!!

And to think, Bob-taro, you almost got away with it you sneaky sonuvabitch...

Re:And other things..

[Torvaun]

The most subtle part of his plan was where he changed 1+2 to equal 1.