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I received this letter on September 22:
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Thanks for your post on the forecasted meltdown of 1/1/2000. Having spent ten years in software (most recently as an employee/consultant of Oracle), designing, developing and mananging projects, I can tell you that this whole Bug 2000 thing is a scam, designed to line the pockets of software companies and consultants.
Though I'm truly disgusted with the idea of ripping off customers, the perpetrators are pulling off the perfect scam. Once the customer buys the false premise of a ticking time bomb, in effect, the software company has a gun to their head. Sick but true. I will offer a chance to prove what foolishness this is. My company will do the job for 25% of what any large systems house would charge. The algortithm is simple:
(1) simply identify every instance of "date", whether it be a database field or hard coded, and then,
(2) develop a translation routine (a.k.a. function or procedure) which is automatically called upon at each point in the program where date is encountered,
(3) ensure that mathmatical operations can be performed on dates, in the same fashion that they were before, by adding the "Julian" value of one century to the representation for 1900, in each instance of date computations.
Anybody want to save a few million bucks? Know any corporate execs who are holding their ankles these days? Before their blood spills, you might consider having them get a second opinion. The biggest disaster of 1/1/ 2000 will be the invoices which corporate America is going to get slammed with, as the consultants go party.
Anybody can call me at Softel, Incorporated (847) 559-9600. Steve Wallace
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