I must take exception with Terry's final comments, though. Upgrading from DOS 3.3 to something newer is not a big issue for home computers.
Whilst I realize some of us may have old (very, very old) machines at the house, I doubt very much they are still in use as the main (or house-critical) machine.
Terry seems to think that computers have been the home forever. While this may be true for folks like us, it is only within the last few years average (non-computer savvy) people have been getting those things in their home. These people are more probably running Windows 95 on a 486 or Pentium box, because this is what has been selling at increasing rates for the last few years.
Anybody who has kids knows that said kids will have bugged or are now bugging their parents to get a Windows 95 machine so they can play the games and surf the Internet with Netscape Navigator or Internet Explorer.
I fail to see why Terry lays the blame for the year 2000 at Bill Gates' doorstep. I also do not think that buying a newer version of MS-DOS, or even Windows 95 is going to buy a painting for Gates' house. It would be a very small painting, as Windows 95 can be had for less than $100 and MS-DOS 5.0 for much less than that. Gates probably only gets about $0.25 per copy. I suspect Terry is thinking that a newer PC needed to bypass the y2k problem can cost someone thousands of dollars. While this may be true, Microsoft and Bill Gates will not be the ones getting that money.
I have an old Toyshiba T1000LE laptop which runs MS-DOS 3.3, and it flips with no problems to the year 2000 and beyond. I do not think my oldest daughter is going to use it for more than a decade :-). (My youngest one will probably be able to speak to her computer, a 986 3.2ghz computer with 4 gigs of RAM and a 1.2 tb disk drive. All this for $1,500 at that time.) My HP150II is stored away, unused.
I also have an assortment of 286 and 386 motherboards which I keep for posterity. These boards were in computers that I upgraded to either 486s or Pentiums. A replacement motherboard can be had in almost any configuration for very little money. All the newer (3-4 years old) boards I have installed handle Y2k which nary a problem.
I have to agree with Gary about the proliferation of 286s and 386s in schools. I think I will contact the local school board and see if they need help dealing with this issue. Thank you Gary for bringing this to our attention.
Kind regards,
Denys. . .
[log in to unmask] http://www.hicomp.com/hicomp
(800) 323-8863 (281) 288-7438 Fax: (281) 355-6879
----------
From: Gary Jackson[SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Monday, 03 February, 1997 9:34 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: year 2000 on PCs
>Denys posted yesterday dealing with NT and Yr2000.
>While in the UK this week, I noticed an article from one of the "computer
>rags", about a year old, posted on a bulletin board, with this headline:
>"Microsoft confesses DOS will cause chaos in the year 2000"
>
>It got my attention. This article says:
> - versions of DOS before release 5.0 don't support the year 2000
> - some versions of Access, Excel & Projects don't support the year 2000
> (it was unclear which versions are "safe" and which are not)
>
>I suggest you include PCs in your test plans.
>
>I know some of you are about to hurt yourselves laughing, thinking that
>anyone is still running DOS 3.3, 4.0, etc.
>But have you checked all of those little test rigs sitting on the factory
>floor? Or what about the dedicated units in the lab? And, what about your
>employees who have old machines at home who don't have the $ or inclination
>to buy "Bill the G" a new painting for his house?????
>
>Terry Simpkins
>
I'm more worried about the schools of this country. I would hate to have to
guess
how many 286s are still being used in the classrooms in my district. And I
know that it
sounds ungrateful but I know that lots of folks are going to donate more
286s and 386s to
us, get a tax write off, and feel good about helping out the schools
Please forgive my negativity.
Gary Jackson
Nevada CSOS
(916) 478-6407 - voice
(916) 478-6410 - fax
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