Re: y2k problem for Apple2

[a2mg@aol.com (A2MG)]

>Will there be a 2000 year problem for the apple2?

It depends on whether the individual program you are using makes use of ProDos'
century or not.

AppleWorks 3.0 definitely has year 2000 problems. Data bases will not sort
properly by date, and data base entry of the year 00 truncates the year
completely . (Go ahead--try and enter 2/1/00 in the AppleWorks 3 data base. You
lose the year. - There is a patch to fix this, BTW.)  The < PD> command will
use a century of 19, as will the macro command < Date> and the printout of data
base reports.

Yet another reason to update to AppleWorks 5.1 now, while you still can.
AppleWorks 5.1 handles dates beyond 2000, including sorting, and even adding
and subtracting dates. The bootup (clock-read) century is good until 2059, at
which time we have a patch for you to extend it to 2099 if you so choose.

Unlike AppleWorks 5.1, which covers any century,  in AppleWorks 3.0 you can
have 19 or 20 - but not both. For AppleWorks 3.0 die-hards, we will make
available files which have the century "20" hard-coded in the date (same as
"19" is hard-coded now), and fix the data base "00" year entry bug.  We will no
longer bother with patches, but will just give you the finished files since
it's just plain easier than teaching you how to patch. You still won't be able
to sort by date, but at least you can enter them. 

For other programs, I have found that when sorting a Prodos file list by date,
00 will always sort last. The two programs I use most which sort a disk catalog
are ProSel Utilities and AppleWorks 5.1. This will be annoying, I am sure.
Neither program assigns a century in the catalog list. ProSel's Volume Repair
(Mr. Fixit) will kick out files created in 00 as errors, and attempt to fix
them. 
Beverly Cadieux
TEXAS II - AppleWorks - visit our Web Site at http://members.aol.com/A2MG