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SubjectRE: time_t size: The year 2038 bug?
In <NDBBIHAIKLCAPCNCPEJNKELFCBAA.katz@advanced.org> Terry Katz (katz@advanced.org) wrote:
>> My main point was that 38 years is a LONG TIME in the computer industry.
>> Are you still using Wordperfect 5.1 on a 386 DOS machine at 40 MHz? It
>> requires much less energy than the Windows boxen running at 200+MHz and
>> it has the added feature that secretaries really liked it and the Windows
>> version of the same product sucked (from what I understand). That was 10
>> years ago...

> This is a very poor point .. where I personally can say 'No, I am not still
> using my 386 DOS machine...' There are still many people out there using
> these machines.

Heck, I know quite a few peoples here who are using XT ! Yes, that thing with
8088 at 4.77Mhz (or what it was?). It can look stupid, but it's not. They need
something to type text files and XT was more then enough for that. You can add
fancy things later on PentiumII in Word2000 :-)

> Our company runs an international internet contest, and some of our past
> (and present) entries come from users which are still using 386+486
> machines... There are some places in the world inwhich the price of
> upgrading is too expensive, or it is just not easy to upgrade to the latest
> machines.

Or it's just needed. An XT with old good monochrome Hercules is all what you
need to type texts.

> We had a brief discussion about this on the Debian list, and there too,
> there are still those that have such machines in active use.

> Albeit, the 386 is not that old (old by computer standards, but not old by
> 'human' years .. ), and a lot can change in 38 years, but that all depends
> on when the 'last' 32bit machine is produced and when the bigger and better
> ones come out .. (ie, if cheap-home-use 32bit machines are around for
> another 10 years or so .. then your point above will be just as poor in 38
> years as it is now .. )

> Intel, AMD, Cyrix, etc... can all phase out the 32bit chips in a few years
> and start pushing 64bit+ machines for home use, you will still have the
> users out there that will either not be able to afford to upgrade (32bit
> machines will be around for quite some time, and intel 64bit platform will
> not be cheap .. especially when they are/were selling xeon's for up to $7000
> a piece processor alone)...

Intel is producing 386EX now and does not have plans to stop doing this
(AFAIK, anyway). The same is true for 80186 deriviations (it's not interesting
for Linux, but anyway).

> There are still locations .. schools, libraries, etc... that still have PC
> Jr's, Commodore 64's, Mac Classic's, Apple IIgs's, etc... and look at how
> old some of those machines are!

We have working Mac Classic here, it's right :-) It's not used much but it's not
thrown out either.




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