Man Bytes Blog

Remember all the hype of Y2K? It seems like it was so long ago, but it has been only six years. I find it interesting that a lot of people think it was all a hoax perpetrated by Microsoft to sell software that would protect our computers. Little do they know that there really was a millenium bug. It was not a virus, but it had to be fixed before December 31, 1999.
....Those illustrious pioneers of the world of computers, had in their infinite wisdom, created the bug themselves. It seems with hindsight, that this problem should have been prevented out of the gate. You are all familiar with forms that ask for your date of birth. The format for such an entry a decade ago for my birthday would have been: MM DD 19YY, or 02 15 48. (Yes, I am that old.) Those programs of old were configured for the year as "19__" without consideration of the day that the 19 would roll over to "20." That, in a nutshell, was the millenium bug! Reformatting the date to MM DD YYYY solved the problem. Since 2000, man and computers have evolved from Neanderthal-like beginnings to the geekdom of the New Millenium we live in today. We, sitting in front our computers, will be long gone when this problem evolves to Y10K. When the year is 9999, there will be the need to reprogram again to handle the MM DD YYYYY format which will be needed in the year 10,000.

Now it's been ten tousand years, Man has cried a billion tears.
For what he never knew, Now man's reign is through.
But through eternal night. The twinkling of starlight.
So very far away, Maybe it's only yesterday.
-- (In The Year 2525 - Zagger & Evans)

In a blog dream, I have decided to install Windows 3000. Over a cup of Joe I am surfing the UWW (Universal Wide Web) through my kitchen window. The skyline serves as both wallpaper and a screen saver. I am about to write a blog, my 150,000th posting, on the subject of my new processor.

In the future not much has changed. The new versions of software have problems much like the ones of nine hundred ninety years ago. They simply don't work like they are promised.

I work at home now and stay in my pajamas most of the day. I am reading the recent e-mail from my son who is attending Mars Univesity. He has just returned from a weekend getaway on Phobos with his girl friend. There is an attachment containing photos taken with the camera located in his left eye. I am almost at the point of cursing because it is taking so long for the pictures to download. It usually takes about ten seconds for pictures, but it has already been twenty seconds and counting.

Finally, I receive a photo of his work station in his dorm room. Even though it is small and crude, he says it is efficient. Just what am I getting for the money I pay for his tuition? You'd think for 1.5 million bucks per semester he'd have a refrigerator at hands reach. Mars has been colonized for 25 years now, you'd think there would be a few creature comforts up there.

(Brrr-innnngggg!) What the? Damn telephone. It awoke me from my reverie. I was back in front of my 19-inch screen. I was missing that 12 x 4 foot Windows 3000 already. Instead of a city skyline with clouds in the sky, I am looking at wallpaper comprised of Marvin the Martian and Daffy Duck in a scene from Duck Dodgers.

Oh well, so much for the future. You gotta live for today. Let me see ... What was I going to do? ... Ah, I was going to download the new Microsoft upgrade.........

No.504