The problem? On January 1, 2000, thousands of applications around the world will suddenly go back in time 100 years, rather than ahead by one day. Why? A lack of planning, pure and simple.
Because software developers during much of the early days of programming didn't worry about the programs lasting for 20 or 30 years, the applications they wrote tell time in terms of the last two digits of the year, rather than all four.
So, once we reach the next century, as far as some computers are concerned, debts owed in 1999 will be 99 years past due!
While there is no way to avoid the pain of changing databases and applications to use four-digit year dates, IBM does provide several solutions.
The short-term solution is the "century window" feature of Language Environment for MVS and VM that allows two-digit years to be interpreted in a 100-year window. Since each two-digit number can only occur once in every 100 years, the user merely selects the period of time the 100-year window should span.
Other, long-term solutions are available to help get organizations through to the year 9999. These involve using COBOL for MVS and VM Intrinsic Functions or Language Environment for MVS and VM callable services. Both programs can operate on four- digit dates.
See also:
Breaking Up is Hard to Do
Return to Legacy Applications