Microsoft finds some bugs, but says they’re harmless

REDMOND, Wash. (AP)
— Year 2000 bugs have been found in Windows 98, but none pose any risk
of data loss or damage to computers, according to a Microsoft Corp.
official.
In fact, the bugs are so minor and obscure that Windows users probably
won’t notice them, said Don Jones, Microsoft product manager for Year
2000.
“If I were talking to my father, I would tell him not to worry about
any of these issues whatsoever,” Jones said.
Microsoft already has issued corrections to Windows 98 to fix other
bugs — or “issues,” as Microsoft prefers to call them. It posted a
software update on its Web site last week to correct the Year 2000
problems.
The bugs were found during ongoing testing of Windows 98, which went on
sale in late June, Jones said.
Windows is the operating system for nine out of 10 personal computers,
and Microsoft has gone to great lengths to reassure customers that it
and other products won’t be affected by the date change at the end of
the millennium.
Some software programs, especially older ones, may fail when the date
changes to 2000 because they were written to recognize only the last two
digits of a year. Such programs could read the digits “00” as 1900,
instead of 2000.
Microsoft says its newer programs, including Windows 98, are “Y2K
compliant” and won’t fail when the new century dawns. The newly
discovered bugs are too minor to affect that rating, Jones said.
Among some of the problems:
If a computer running Windows 98 is started at the precise fraction of a
second when the date changes, the computer’s system clock could display
the wrong time or date.
A specific technique for resetting a date to Feb. 29 for a leap year
could result in Feb. 29 being displayed for other years. This doesn’t
happen when other methods for changing the date are used, and is only a
display problem, meaning it cannot be applied to stored data.
When a user makes a telephone call using the phone dialer feature, a log
created after completion of the call can display the wrong date.
When using early versions of Microsoft Wallet, a program that allows
credit card purchases over the Internet, users must enter the month, day
and year for the card’s expiration date beyond 2000. Entering an
expiration date of 5/01, for example, could be read incorrectly as May
1, rather than May 2001.
None of the problems was reported by customers, Jones said, but were
discovered during product testing.
Windows 98, which was originally expected out in late 1997, was delayed
several times during a year-long testing period. The program was tested
by tens of thousands of people and companies before its release, in
addition to in-house testing by Microsoft.
Jones said updates for English-language versions of Windows 98 are
available now, and that fixes for other languages will be out by early
1999.
The free update to Windows 98 is available at http://windowsupdate.-
microsoft.com/ or by calling toll-free, 800-363-2896 to receive it on
CD-ROM.