STORY:
World Prepares for 9-9-99

Technicians believe "Infinity Day" could be dress rehearsal for New Year's Day

Computer programmers are counting down to infinity, which they believe, could come on Sept 9, 1999. On that day, computers around the world will register "nines" across the calendar; a signal some programmers say could trigger a dress rehearsal for New Year's Day and the effects of the computer Y2K bug.

Some programmers say on the ninth day of the ninth month of 1999 certain older computers will read four nines as a cut-off code, freeze and perhaps even destroy data. The problem stems from the old Cobol programming language that used a string of nines to signify infinity. That means when September 9 comes, computers with the programming would read 9999 not as a date but as a command to stop.

While Cobol is virtually extinct, some say its bugs, including the millennium bug, remain in modern programs. September 9 could also be a threat because the new breed of experts don't know where to look for them.

Experts say many main frame computers rely on old Cobol programming to operate. While the computers are still running, the programmers who wrote the software are not because many have retired. Hundreds of solution providers have created programs in an attempt to fix the Cobol programming.

Still experts believe Sept 9 will not pose a significant threat especially to embedded chips that have date related functions built in. That is because almost all embedded chips don't have shut down functions related the 9999 code say programmers.

New Year's Eve and September 9 are not the only date-related computer problems. The internal date in the Global Positioning System used in air, road and sea navigation will roll over on August 21. And 2000 is a leap year, a fact distracted programmers may have forgotten, meaning February 29 may be another test.

Source: Reuters

DATE: 8/16/99

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