Are you paranoid? Do you have Doubts? Do you think
people are too trusting? Then you should do your own Y2K tests. Here
are some critical dates:
September 9, 1999: many lazy people
enter distant future dates as 9/9/99. This will come back to haunt
them on September 9, 1999, unless they make corrections before
then.
December 31, 1999: Party time! Set your
computer to December 31, 1999, and 11:58 p.m. Then turn the
computer off for five minutes. Then turn it on and hope you see
--
January 1, 2000: Among other things,
make sure your computer thinks this is Saturday.
January 3, 2000: the first business day
of the year 2000. Let's hope your computer thinks it is
Monday.
January 10, 2000: the first day of the
year 2000 with a double-digit day, and first one to require a
seven-digit date field. Your computer should think it is
Monday.
February 28, 2000: Set your computer to
February 28, 2000, and 11:58 p.m. Then turn the computer off for
five minutes. Then turn it on and hope you see --
February 29, 2000: Yes, the year 2000
is a leap year. Your computer should think it is
Tuesday.
March 1, 2000: Assuming your computer
doesn't think it is February 30, it should think this is
Wednesday.
April 1, 2000: beginning of the second
fiscal quarter for the year 2000. Your computer should think this
is a Saturday. Be prepared for some really epic April Fool's Day
pranks.
July 1, 2000: beginning of the third
fiscal quarter for the year 2000. Your computer should think it is
a Saturday.
October 1, 2000: beginning of the
fourth fiscal quarter for the year 2000, and the beginning of the
federal government's 2001 fiscal year. Your computer should think
it is a Sunday. Fearless prediction: the federal budget will still
be under debate in Congress.
October 10, 2000: Chinese Independence
Day, and the first day to require an eight-digit date field. Your
computer should think this is a Tuesday.
December 31, 2000: last day of the
20th century. You'll be partying, so who cares what day
it is?
January 1, 2001: first day of the
21st century. Your computer should think it is a
Monday, but don't go to work: it is a holiday.
September 8, 2001: many UNIX systems
count days from an arbitrary beginning, and this date is day
999,999,999. HAL 9000 probably had problems on September 9,
2001...
February 29, 2004: the first leap-year
day of the 21st century.
If you are running these tests on a Macintosh, you
should be bored by now. If you don't have a Macintosh, you probably
want to check them out; they are available in several
flavors.
