If I may help clear up (at least one of) the issue about 9/9/99.
MANMAN has some instances where "9999" was used to represent the "end of time".
Yes this is "silly" and a hold over from long ago when dates in MANMAN were
represented as a single integer (they were expanded to double integer many years
ago, but MANMAN like the HP3000 has been known to run virtually unattended for
many years ;-).  Most of these "booboos" were cleaned up long ago, but there are
a few left.  In our testing we have found the problem to be relevant only today, if
one accepts the default of 9999 (in that form) instead of using a more clearly defined
date of:  090999, 9/9/99, 09999, 90999...... you get the idea.

fairly short answer to one part of a very complicated story.
Now back to work.

*******************************
Terry W. Simpkins
Director ISIT
Lucas Control Systems
[log in to unmask]
*******************************