Billy Brown [bbrown@conemsco.com] wrote:
>The problem is unlikely to start with, because most embedded chips don't use
>date information for anything especially critical - your reports might come
>out looking strange, but the machinery will probably keep running.
Sadly, not true. Fortunately many of these systems will only fail during the rollover and will probably start working again if restarted. There are various reasons why embedded systems use non-compliant clocks, for example for maintenance schedules or because they have the clock built into the chip so they use it for event timing, etc.
If this wasn't true, corporations wouldn't be spending billions of dollars replacing all the broken embedded systems...
That said, I don't see a long-term power shutdown as likely. Short-term failures in small areas, certainly, but not the entire grid going down for months.
I wouldn't be entirely surprised if Clinton is aiming to use the Y2K chaos to stay in power, even to the extent of martial law; but I would be surprised if the military obey him beyond a rational response to the situation. Of all the groups who hate Clinton, the military seem to come top, for obvious reasons. I'd be more concerned if Clinton was kicked out of office and Gore took over.
I mean, as far as I can see Clinton is a true Orwellian villain who cares for nothing but power, and he's not going to turn down a chance like this.
Mark