Year 2000 (Y2K)
Compliance:
FirstPlace Software takes the Year 2000 computer
problem ("Y2K") very seriously and has been
actively studying the issue since mid-1997.
For those of you who are still in the dark about
Y2K, it is a design problem that affects millions
of computers, software products, and embedded chips
world-wide. If not fixed, many software and
hardware products will work improperly, or will
stop functioning altogether. The problem stems
largely from using two digit years to store dates,
so that when "00" is used to represent the Year
2000, many systems will misinterpret that as 1900.
This can cause a variety of calculation problems
and errors.
WebPosition Year 2000 Compliance:
We are happy to announce that WebPosition, since
it's first release in June 1997 was designed to be
Year 2000 compatible by storing and retrieving
dates as four digit years. However, even if a
product is designed to be compatible, testing must
be conducted to verify that design.
In December 1998 we tested WebPosition Analyzer
1.20.8 and the new WebPosition Gold for Year 2000
compatibility. Both versions of WebPosition passed
all the tests we performed. Be aware that some
reports or screens may display a date in the
abbreviated 2 digit year form by design, but dates
are still stored internally as 4 digit years to
avoid potential calculation problems.
Note: Although we expect WebPosition to make a
smooth transition into the year 2000, we obviously
do not have control of things like the compliance
of the search engines themselves, the complex
communications network that the Internet depends
on, the hardware you run WebPosition on, and so
forth. Although we hope problems like this will not
occur, any of these factors could potentially
disrupt WebPosition from operating as intended.
FirstPlace Software Year 2000 Compliance:
FirstPlace Software, as an organization is
taking a very proactive stance against Y2K. We
realize that the bug may affect the equipment and
software we use, as well as affecting the vendors
and utilities we rely upon. We have already
upgraded or replaced our mission critical equipment
and software, with minor upgrades and continued
testing planned throughout 1999. In addition, we
are taking many steps to try and minimize our
outside risk. Contingency plans are being made for
various scenarios, and we're trying to reduce our
reliance on third party vendors.
If you are unaware of the very real dangers of
Y2K, we encourage you to do your own research so
you're not caught unprepared. As the saying goes,
"Hope for the best, but plan for the worst." Here
are just some of many Y2K related sites you could
look at:
www.year2000.com
www.euy2k.com
www.y2knews.com
However, don't forget to download
your copy of WebPosition Gold before leaving!