As a programmer in the mid '60s, you may be reassured -- or perhaps not --
to know that we knew about the Year 2000 problem then. However, here were
the issues: Disk space was very expensive. why would anyone suggest we
use extra space to solve a problem that was at least 35 years away? Would
a general solution be identied in the meantime? Even the mid '60s, a
change in one proram would have meant going back and retrofitting a
substantial base of other programs that used a 2-digit year. Thus even
making a change for 'today going forward' could not be done without
substantial retroffitting investment.
What is interesting to me is not how we could have been so simple as to
have gotten into this position. What is interesting is, how easy it was
to get into it despite our systems thinking of the '60s, and now, how do
we use _any_ thinking to get out of it. Brute force still seems to be the
primary solution. There must be an elegant solution somewhere.
--Rol Fessenden LL Bean, Inc. 76234.3636@compuserve.com
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>