Hi all,

I have a problem I hope that you can help me solve. Our systems administrator is determined to remove all non-Y2K compliant software from the network. Even though ARev is supposedly Y2K compliant, our systems adiminstrator states that ARev is NOT Y2K compliant because it runs in a DOS window, and all programs that run through a DOS window are not Y2K compliant.

I believe that he is wrong, but I cannot prove that he is wrong. Can any of you provide evidence of or lead me to reputable source stating that programs that run through a Windows 95/98 Dos window can be Y2K compliant?

Thanks for your help. The future of my database depends on it.

Mike

Hmmm, Microsoft seems to think DOS 6.22 is Y2K compliant (see Microsoft's footnotes too):

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/year2k/product/user_view6839EN.htm

With the Y2K patches for Win95/98 one would think the DOS window is also. There is certainly nothing about it not be compliant on Microsoft's Y2K Center.

ARev is Y2K ready/compliant but the application itself may not be depending on how date as stored and manipulated. Click on the Y2K topic on the left for more information and white papers.

It is difficult to prove that something does not exist. If the claim is that something does exist, it is easily demonstrated by showing it. My position would be to have your system administrator demonstrate that the DOS window is not Y2K compliant. You can then address whatever points he brings up.

Incidentally, on our standard Windows environment, the NT logon script executes in a DOS window.

I would be very questionable of a "system administrator" that thinks that way. See your system administrator is about to throw away the one software "AREV" that is Y2K compliant. I believe your system administrator is confused, or maybe is money spending crazy.

See like with doctors… i would always get a second opinion.

Also… you need to weed out scare tactics from actual concerns. I can think of only one thing that AREV uses in DOS that is "date sensitive" and that is whatever "today" is. And i do know that DOS will know that today is 12/31/1999 and that DOS will know that today is 01/01/2000. when those two days come.

I guess the more opions you get the better for making choices. Its your choice. I would choose AREV over any other software because of the way AREV handles dates.

AREV by itself is year 2000 compliant. Your AREV application code will have to be checked.

DOS windows are not Y2K compliant in the sense that DOS dates show as two characters (00 for 2000), and may not sort correctly if you do a DIR | SORT or a DIR /OD command. Big deal. They are stored on disk as a number of years since 1980, so they have integrity on disk, at least.

You may be interested to know there is a bug in Visual Basic 4.0 / Microsoft C++ which mishandles dates (shows 2000 in 2000 and 99 in 1999). Suggest on this basis alone that Microsoft products be removed from the system as well as AREV until he has checked every line of machine code in every Windows *.dll and *.exe

Or you could merely ask him to show you where the DOS boxes are not compliant.

Or you could get him to pick a DLL at random from the windows\system path and get him to explain exactly what it does. When he say's he doesn't know, you can point to your AREV application and say I know what all these files do.

Perhaps some Y2K test cases with printouts are what is required to reassure your administrator.

If you send me the email address of your system administrator and I will reassure him of AREV's and DOS's relative Y2K robustness. It's only Windows applications I'm worried about .

Steve

Thank you all for the information. I can better plead my case now that I have some facts behind me.

Steve - What is your e-mail address? I'd like to get some copies of test cases with print outs to show the system admin.

Thanks again.

Mike

You can reach me at:

steve@state-of-the-art.com.au

http://www.state-of-the-art.com.au

Steve

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