Stan Sieler <[log in to unmask]> wrote a while back:

...
>> Beyond that, will any of them allow simulation of dates beyond 2027?
>
>But of course...  :)
>
><plug, lengthy=true, strong=true, technical=true>
>
>Only one.
>
>The best one.
>
>The only 100% solution...
>
>HourGlass 2000 for the HP 3000.

...
>So.......
>
>
>*Why* would a sane user want to set the date past 2027-12-31?
>
>To test their system.
>
>*I* expect the HP 3000 to be running in 2028 :)
>
>By setting the date to, say, 2050, I can find out *today* which
>MPE commands have 2027 limitations, and which have 2038 limitations.
>I can then begin a dialog with HP, urging them to fix the ones that
>are important to me.
>
>------------
>
>Example:   set the date to 2050-01-01
>(the example input is indented, the example output is doubly indented,
>comments are not indented)
>
>   :hgdate 1/1/2050
>
>      Welcome to HourGlass 2000 for the HP 3000!
>      Version 98Z
>
>      Date/time after alter:    2050-01-01 @ 15:36:46.6
>      Note: your private clock is beyond the range of the CALENDAR intrinsic.
>
>We noticed that your private clock had a value that isn't representable
>by the CALENDAR intrinsic.
>
>After setting the private clock for your session (see how easy that was?!),




I pasrticularly enjoyed Stan's technical description of the 64-bitness of
MPE's date-handling method, which has been available for a while:

>...  HP-UX (and most UNIX implemenations)
> runs into a brick wall in 2038.  This is a pretty fundamental
> limitation, because HP-UX stores timestamps as a signed 32-bit integer number
> of seconds since 1970, with the maximum being 2038-01-19 03:14:07.0.
>
> MPE/iX runs into a brick wall at the end of 2027-12-31, because
> of the CALENDAR intrinsic date type.
>
> Or does it?
>
> As every date/time simulation tool vendor/author should know,   :)
> over 99% of the internals of MPE/iX uses a timestamp which
> is a 64-bit integer number of microseconds since 1970.  This
> provides a limit of well past 9999-12-31.
> (A littttle bit larger than the HP-UX limit :)
>
> I.e., when you create a file, the creation date is stored in that
> format!


Conclusion: MPE shows, once again, that it is ahead of the crowd :-)

I did not know any of this!  To me, this feature alone is worth a lot of
press *outside* of the HP3000 installed base.  It shows Stan's wisdom for
marketing the strengths of MPE versus the weaknesses of other operating
systems.  I would love to assemble a sizable inventory of these kinds of
MPE advantages so I can stress them in my talks throughout the world.

Please keep sending those notes!

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|            r  |  Alfredo                     mailto:[log in to unmask]
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|        g      |  F. Alfredo Rego                       +1 208 726-9100
|      a        |  Manager, R & D Labs               Fax +1 208 726-2822
|    d          |  Adager Corporation
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