I was amazed to hear about the pre-pay fuel pumps not working due to the date.
this post was submitted on 28 Feb 2024
1 points (100.0% liked)
Aotearoa / New Zealand
1648 readers
7 users here now
Kia ora and welcome to !newzealand, a place to share and discuss anything about Aotearoa in general
- For politics , please use [email protected]
- Shitposts, circlejerks, memes, and non-NZ topics belong in [email protected]
- If you need help using Lemmy.nz, go to [email protected]
- NZ regional and special interest communities
Rules:
FAQ ~ NZ Community List ~ Join Matrix chatroom
Banner image by Bernard Spragg
Got an idea for next month's banner?
founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
Someone got a few very early phone calls about that one I bet.
Me too! So many questions!
This event happens every 4 years, so this date change is nothing unusual.
I remember the millennium bug fiasco, where strict warnings were broadcast that computers may fail on the year 1999 to 2000 date change. Companies were panicking, one of my customers at the time insisted we run tech checks and send a report to them to prove our systems could cope.
Y2K was a real issue, and a one off. I don't understand how a system that is otherwise functional could break when Feb 29 hit. It's gotta be either time-related encryption. Or maybe a stupid hard coded value, though I still can't imagine how that could cause an issue.
I wonder how the pumps system handles daylight savings?
About 14 years ago I worked for a company that looked after the POS and pump controllers for a few gas companies. They were outdated even then. Many of them still ran on Win 95 or 98 and used coax cables with old BNC connectors to talk to the pump controller.
I’d hope they’re a bit more up to date now
Well the Gregorian calendar was introduced in 1582, so maybe these guys are running an even older version of Windows that predates this change.
Although the Julian calendar had leap days too so 🤷
By using a standard calendar system the same way it handles any dates and times. All the more reason why it's so confusing how Feb 29 could screw anything up!
I’m sure there’s lots of questioning how this happened.