Chapter 635: The Millennium Crisis Enough to Overturn the Internet World

The millennium bug refers to the year 2000 problem of computers, so it is also called the computer millennium problem or the millennium crisis.

Many people don't understand it and think it is a computer virus, but it is not.

The essence of the millennium bug problem is a computer program failure, which is caused by defects in the computer program processing algorithm. Foreigners call it y2kbug.

In the 1960s, computer technology was not as developed as it is now, and the cost of information storage was not as cheap as it is now. In order to save costs, people at that time used two-digit decimal arithmetic.

Since this algorithm has been used for the past thirty years, it has been deeply rooted in many aspects of computing programming and has become part of today's computer system.

There was no problem for the previous thirty years, and people ignored it. It was not until the millennium was approaching that the disadvantages of the two-digit decimal system were revealed.

Xu Ang vaguely remembered that people were worried about and widely talked about the millennium bug problem in computers. It was only in the next year, that is, 1997 and 1998 that it was taken seriously. He did not expect that because of his appearance, Li Yanhong's Du Niang would appear earlier. This issue was taken seriously a year or two in advance.

At least, after Li Yanhong mentioned the millennium bug problem, Xu Ang would definitely not hide the news. Xu Ang would inform Penguin in China, as well as Twitter, Netscape, fruit companies, etc. in the United States.

This will not only allow them to prepare responses in advance, but also pool everyone's wisdom to find solutions.

You must know that the Y2K problem did not only occur in the millennium. After the new millennium, it will show up every ten years, leaving countless programmers scratching their heads, and making countless Internet companies tremble, fearing that problems will cause the company to suffer huge losses. .

"Y2K?"

Li Yanhong muttered twice and said, "Yes, that's it. It's true."

Xu Ang asked him: "Have you thought of a solution?"

Du Niang is a search engine, so this will inevitably involve time. If this problem is not solved, when users use Du Niang to search, they are likely to search for things from 1997, but information from other years will appear.

"We're trying to figure it out."

Worried that Xu Ang would not understand, Li Yanhong explained: "The Y2K problem was caused by computer programmers in the 1960s using two digits to represent the year in order to save storage space. Later, although the price of memory dropped due to the rapid development of technology, this The algorithm appears due to the inertia of thinking. If it is not solved, the computer will not be able to correctly identify the years 2000 and later, and the impact will be too great. "

"Boss, I'm not being alarmist. But don't think it's just a time and technology problem, nothing serious. With your perspective and understanding of the Internet, you should be able to know that from the computer system, including the PC's BIOS, microcode to the operating system , database software, commercial software and application systems, etc., to telephone program-controlled switches, bank ATMs, security systems, factory automation systems related to computers and automatic control, and even a large number of electronic appliances and mechanical equipment using embedded chip technology "

"It affects so many aspects. It can be said that the entire computer industry, as well as the Internet era brought about by the emergence of computers, may be severely damaged by the Y2K problem. If users no longer trust computers, we hope that The Internet era will have to wait for many years or even die prematurely.”

The more Li Yanhong talked, the more scared he became.

Before yesterday, he would never have thought that the Internet world, which had clearly seen the infinite future, would be in danger of overturning because of such a small problem as the time counting algorithm.

What depresses Li Yanhong the most is that even though he saw such a big problem and thought about it, he didn't dare to say anything about it. He didn't even dare to tell the senior executives within the company. The fear is that if the news leaks out, it will cause unpredictable changes.

You must know that due to the good development momentum of Du Niang, many internationally renowned venture capital investors have extended an olive branch to it and expressed their willingness to invest in it.

His career was booming, and good times were about to come, but a fatal crisis suddenly appeared, almost breaking Li Yanhong's waist.

Li Yanhong sat in the company all day today, thinking so hard that his hair was pulled out. He still couldn't think of a proper way to deal with it, so he had no choice but to come to Xu Ang.

"What is the continuation of inertial thinking? According to me, it is laziness. Those guys in the West enjoy high welfare benefits by plundering underdeveloped areas of the world. The laziness in their bones makes them unwilling to work seriously at all. Unless a crisis comes, otherwise they will If you find out, you will choose to turn a blind eye.”

Xu Ang pouted. The reason why the millennium bug appeared was because people wanted to save trouble. Even if computer technology improved and the price of memory dropped, they were too lazy to change the expedient measures they had chosen in the past due to technical and cost considerations. .

Knowing clearly that there will be problems, but not making changes in order not to increase your workload, just thinking that you will not encounter them when working, and leaving problems to future generations, this is in line with the national conditions of a country with high welfare pensions.

Xu Ang said to Li Yanhong: "Change the algorithm."

Li Yanhong: "Huh?"

This is a big project, and it is not easy to do.

Xu Ang added: "Change quietly."

"I'll contact Steve and put him in charge. So will the fruit company.

As for systems, you said, wouldn't it be interesting if the fruit company's system was changed, but Bill's Microsoft was in a hurry when the problem was discovered? I know that in order to regain the share lost to fruit companies and consolidate its dominance in the operating system, Microsoft has invested a lot of resources in producing a new operating system. If all goes well, this operating system will be released later. Do you think they have considered the Y2K problem? "

"this……"

Li Yanhong was not sure.

He wasn't sure, but Xu Ang was sure: "I didn't consider it so comprehensively, so I still used the two-digit decimal algorithm."

Li Yanhong was secretly shocked by the strength of his boss.

Microsoft owes its existence to the operating system. The operating system is their lifeblood. A new operating system is related to the life and death of Microsoft. Such a project is absolutely confidential, but Xu Ang can actually get involved. It depends on what he says. The tone clearly understood him very well, so how could Li Yanhong not be shocked.

Li Yanhong didn't know that 98 is Microsoft's classic operating system. Even though it was released twenty years ago, many people are still using it. How could Xu Ang not know this?

"Don't make any noise about this matter. After the Chinese New Year, I will find some time to gather Steve, Mark, you and Lao Ma together, and we will discuss how to operate it."

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