>>I heard something about this date telling computers to shut down. My boss is asking about it. Does anyone know where I could get more info about it?
>>
>>Thanks,
>>
>>Michelle
>
>In the old days, batch programming was the norm and files were processed sequentially from beginning to end. In order to signal the end of file, programmers would sometimes create a record at the physical end of the file and store the highest permissible value in a key field to mark it as the end-of-file record. In a numeric field, the highest permissible value would be all 9's. Before there were date-type fields, dates were stored in numeric or character fields (which after all is the root of the Y2K problem), so "9/99/99" in a date field could mean "end of file" and could cause a batch program to go to EOJ.
>
>Unless you have any of this sort of old program still in use, it's doubtful whether there will be any problem with Sept. 9, 1999.
>
>HTH,
>Rick

Ah, that makes sense now. We don't have any programs that old, but the local TV station wants to interview my boss about it and he didn't know anything about it.

Thanks,

Michelle