Letter: Dates and the DTI

Sir: Professor Milton (letter, 22 September) has not fully understood the nature and implications of the Year 2000 computer problem. The pounds 450,000 requested by Taskforce 2000 was not intended to fix the problem, but to raise public awareness. The true cost of fixing will run into billions of pounds and will have to be borne by companies and other organisations, including the Government, who have programs that rely on just two digits for the year.

For most large systems, this is an application software problem. The computers themselves will handle the date change - it's just the programs that will fail; potential financial loss if you run a business, potentially life-threatening in a hospital or air traffic control.

For smaller computers, such as PCs, the position is uncertain. Professor Milton may believe his computer has four digits in the date, but he would be wise to see if he can set the date to 1/1/2000. If that works, he should try setting the date to 31/12/1999 23:59 and let it tick over to the next day.

If successful, he will then need to check through all his applications that use dates. I hope he does not feel compelled to sue his supplier, but I wouldn't bet on it.

John Richards

R-cube Systems Ltd, Bath