Have you heard about the Year 2038 problem, which the doomsayers say would cause aircrafts to nosedive, satellites to fall out of orbit and what not? Not getting into the technical stuff, it is again about the date/time handling and you can find more details here & here .
A mail I got detailed an interesting way to test whether this is really true. If you are interested, you may try these steps.
1. Login into Yahoo! Messenger
2. Send an instant message to someone to make sure that it is working.
3. Now, change your system date to 19-Jan-2038, 03:14:07 AM or above
4. Confirm whether the date in your PC has changed
5. Again try sending out an instant message to anyone…
Doesn’t your messenger application crash?
If you were using MS Outlook, it would cause you some hassles and may require you to restart your machine.
I tried the above and it happened – both the messenger crash & the Outlook trouble etc.
I am being told that all network-based applications wouldn’t work if the system date were beyond 19/Jan/2038, though I didn’t check that.
Though ‘How Stuff Works‘ says that the problem is not as difficult as it was with Y2K, I could see IT majors licking their lips in anticipation of 2038 bug fix projects.
This entry was posted on Thursday, June 16th, 2005 at 11:49 am and is filed under Technical. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
June 16th, 2005 at 1:36 pm
This is really interesting!
June 16th, 2005 at 2:19 pm
Neenga sonenga senja annachi namaluhtum crash ayuduchu.Nalla velai enda tchies tuffelam namakku theryathu.Anyways thz for the info.will explore more about it.
June 16th, 2005 at 2:26 pm
Chakra,
Thanks for the pointer. If I don’t feel like working I’ll do something like this and kill time in office.
June 16th, 2005 at 3:53 pm
this is a linix\unix problem rite? read about it somewer, another boom for indian programmers. this si said to be worse than Y2k interms of implictions but easier to solve i believe. i am a computer illitrate person, preffering the somple world of economics.
June 16th, 2005 at 4:26 pm
Very interesting..
June 16th, 2005 at 5:03 pm
“I could see IT majors licking their lips in anticipation”
–adhaane namma alugalai pathi ketkanuma.. ippave adhukku “go to market” strategy, pricing model ellam work panni vachirupanga
seri seri namma industry secrets ellam podhu sabai la vendaam
June 16th, 2005 at 5:39 pm
Anumita, AF – yeah.. it really is.
Anjali – Better to try these things with a contingency plan. i.e., with some techies around.
Kaps – that wd be a good time pass indeed..
June 16th, 2005 at 5:51 pm
Srivatasan – its some C problem.. though being a techie, i wasn’t in a mood to go into the details..
Subha –
> busy slated schedule – hahaha.. thats a good one.
June 16th, 2005 at 6:01 pm
Prabu Karthik – forefathers of programming have started with a vision… simply plant some bug which would yield fruit after 50 years… think we’ll have to do the same.
June 16th, 2005 at 6:01 pm
I read that by 2038, whatever we use..routers/pc/ all electronic items which use C/Unix will become obsolete. So its not a big problem as Y2K.
June 16th, 2005 at 6:02 pm
appa innum project naraiya irukkunnu sollu
chakra, I will take ur word, coz I’m not gonna crash my machine
June 16th, 2005 at 8:39 pm
Now what is this 2038 problem after Y2K? I will be still alive [I guess during that time] and no, I’m not going to use any aircraft.
But on a serious note, thanks for posting it….let me check it out now
June 16th, 2005 at 11:02 pm
2038 le naan retire aagi thalaivar style-le “Imayamalai” poyiruppen; ange thaan mele rombha plane ellaam parakkaradillaiyaam; ellaam oru tharkaappukku dhaan
June 16th, 2005 at 11:15 pm
BTW, Chakra, I saw your new profile photo
(nannaa irukke, jammunu nalla Iyengar kalai irukke mughaththile 
)
June 17th, 2005 at 1:59 am
Wow, Interesting.. Never heard about this.!
What happened to Kapil dev.!! Why is he missing? Its like Intel changing their Logo.!! You had a trademark photo Chakra.
June 17th, 2005 at 2:38 am
I remember reading about this! People say the fix is less of a problem. but fixing it on all computers is more troublesome, esp. since Linux will also be affected!
June 17th, 2005 at 5:01 am
Interesting…Will try this office PC
June 17th, 2005 at 5:02 am
Interesting…Will try this in office PC
I missed “in” in previous comment
CIMT vaalga
June 17th, 2005 at 8:13 am
Chakra
Venkittu Sir,Thennavan comments partha appuram unga profile parthen.
Hmm… naana edhuvum sollalai.. comments section vara makkalaye ketpom.
Makkale foto vai partha “Ramana” saayal irukka illaya?
Especially the chinna vayasu Ramana still which was used for publicity….
My humble contribution chakra..
June 17th, 2005 at 9:04 am
Chakra,
A kooick kostin..Did it crash only for dates after the specific one..or did it crash for any future date
June 17th, 2005 at 10:02 am
Jagan – its very easy to say that… how long ppl use the software u develop.. 4/5 years? another new requirement, new company, new contract and they suggest to write it from the scratch… with 33 yrs to go before it cd hit us, think we can sit back and see what happens.
Saranyan – neraya projects.. neraya campootar centres training ppl for this.
Archana – did u try that… what happened?
June 17th, 2005 at 10:06 am
Thennavan – 2038 kulla imaya malaikku neraya budget airlines parakka arambichudum.. have some contingency plans.
Narayanan/Thennavan – Kapil Dev is very much around.. Thought I wd give him some rest. I was just fiddling around with photos y’day and simply changed for the heck of it.. Thala wd be back very sooon.
> Its like Intel changing their Logo – ottrathukku alave illeengala.. chinna paiyana paathu ipdi solreengale..
June 17th, 2005 at 10:07 am
Gayathri – in future u’ll hear lot of conflicting opinions from self-appointed experts..
Kay – sure.. try that. adhukku daane office la machines vechirukaanga..
June 17th, 2005 at 10:10 am
Prabu Karthik – seems that u r on a missan.
ioiio – Wonder how the same doubt struck you.. i tried some other future date in 2035 or something.. it worked well.. it crashed only when i set it beyond the said date..
June 20th, 2005 at 7:49 am
Probably I will try to do this in some other PC or office PC as Kaps had suggested.
As for Y2K, our IT institutes in India / philipines / china may churn out many people to fix this bug in future…once again. Vazhaga business nala virumbigal.
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August 2nd, 2005 at 12:53 pm
ya its interesting to know about year 2038 bug
i think it will be more useful for the hackers
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September 6th, 2006 at 6:13 am
I have tried with Yahoo v 8.0,but it didn’t crash
Thanks
Raja