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Frequently Asked Year 2000 Questions


What Will Happen on January 1, 2000?

Robelle software versions, as documented in this FAQ, will continue to run after December 31, 1999. We have tested specific versions of our software by changing the date on one of our machines to December 31, 1999 and letting the clock run forward to January 1, 2000. A combination of regression testing and hand testing was used to insure that these product versions will work correctly after January 1, 2000.


Robelle's Definition of Year 2000 Compliance

Robelle's software, when used according to its documentation, will sort and store all dates on and after January 1, 2000, in the same manner and to the same extent as before January 1, 2000, provided that:
  1. all other products (e.g. hardware, software, firmware) used with Robelle's software are properly adapted to function and to exchange these dates with it,
  2. and all software used with Robelle's software stores the century with all dates,
  3. and you (the user) store dates so that the century is stored as part of the date.


What If Something Goes Wrong on January 1, 2000?

If you discover any Year 2000 non-compliance of Robelle's software, you should immediately notify Robelle in order to allow us to modify or replace the software.

Any modifications or replacements we make will be at no cost to you. We shall have no obligation to make modifications or replacements that are required as a result of problems with products or services that have not been supplied by Robelle (ie, third party software, firmware or hardware that is Y2K non-compliant and any databases used by the customer which are Y2K non-compliant).

Replacement software will be based on a specific version of each of Robelle's products. The specific versions that will be used for modifications are indicated in this FAQ.


Is Qedit Year 2000 Compliant?

Qedit for MPE version 4.6.02 or later is Year 2000 compliant. Any modifications to correct a Year 2000 problem in Qedit will be based on version 4.7.01 and/or 4.8.01. We recommend that you install Qedit version 4.7.01 (released in Oct 1998) or 4.8.01 (released in Oct 1999).

Qedit for HP-UX version 4.7 or later is Year 2000 compliant. Any modifications to correct a Year 2000 problem in Qedit for HP-UX will be based on version 4.7. and/or 4.8.01. We recommend that you install Qedit version 4.7 or 4.8.01.

Because Qedit does not do a lot with dates, we do not expect any problems after December 31, 1999. If you are using the "Set X" feature, options that specify two-digit years beyond 1999 will use a 00 value as the year. If you use the 8-character format (CCYYMMDD), the correct century will be used.

The Qedit Lsort command sorts lines based on the key specified. If your sort key is a six-digit date, the Lsort command will sort dates with a 000101 value before dates with a 990101 value (assuming that you specified ascending order).


Is Qedit for Windows Year 2000 Compliant?

Qedit for Windows version 4.7.01 or later is Year 2000 compliant, if the current date on your PC is correct after December 31, 1999. If your PC date is incorrect after December 31, 1999, Qedit for Windows will not run. Any modifications to correct a Year 2000 problem in Qedit for Windows will be based on the latest version shipping during the last quarter of 1999. We recommend that you install Qedit for Windows version 4.8.01 or higher.

The main date handling in Qedit for Windows are the last-modified-date in the directory dialog and uses of the current date and time in dialogs and listings. Both of these have been tested for Year 2000 compliance.


Is Suprtool Year 2000 Compliant?

Suprtool for MPE version 4.1.01 or later is Year 2000 compliant. Any modifications to correct a Year 2000 problem in Suprtool will be based on version 4.2.01. We recommend that you install Suprtool version 4.2.01.

Suprtool for HP-UX version 4.2.01 or later is Year 2000 compliant. Any modifications to correct a Year 2000 problem in Suprtool will be based on version 4.2.01. We recommend that you install Suprtool version 4.2.01.

Suprtool is only Year 2000 compliant if your dates include the century. If your dates do not include the century, we recommend that you install Suprtool 4.2.01. You will probably need to use the new Suprtool 4.2.01 $stddate function which implements 'date-windowing' on the EXTRACT and IF commands. This feature is new in Suprtool version 4.2.01 and will require changes to some of your existing Suprtool code to take advantage of this feature.

Please see the Suprtool Year 2000 FAQ for a full description of the implications of Year 2000 on applications that use Suprtool. Please keep in mind that the Suprtool Year 2000 FAQ is based on some features that are only available in Suprtool version 4.2.01.


Is Xpress Year 2000 Compliant?

Xpress version 3.1.06 or later is Year 2000 compliant. Any modifications to correct a Year 2000 problem in Xpress will be based on version 3.2. We recommend that you install Xpress version 3.2.


Are the Bonus programs Year 2000 Compliant?

Bonus programs have been tested and source code has been hand-checked.

We tested all the versions that went with the Suprtool 4.1.01 release in April 1998 and all of the versions that went with the Qedit 4.7.01 and 4.6.02 releases and they are Year 2000 compliant.

If a Year 2000 problem occurs in a Bonus program, any modifications to correct a Year 2000 problem will be based on the version of the bonus program that was shipped with your license product. (eg. Qedit or Suprtool)

Often customers overlook the installation of the bonus programs with a given license release. The bonus program installation jobstream is bonus.job.robelle.

Here are the version numbers associated with the license product:

Bonus Program and Version License Product Release
Compare 2.6 Suprtool 4.2.01
Compare 2.6 Qedit 4.7.01
Ederr 4.7.11 Suprtool 4.2.01
Ederr 4.7.01 Qedit 4.7.01
HowMessy 2.6 Suprtool 4.2.01
HowMessy 2.5 Qedit 4.7.01
Select 3.9 Suprtool 4.2.01
Select 3.9 Qedit 4.7.01
Spell 1.8 Suprtool 4.2.01
Spell 1.8 Qedit 4.7.01
Xpedit 1.7 Suprtool 4.2.01
Xpedit 1.7 Qedit 4.7.01


Will the QLib programs run in the Year 2000?

The currently supported group of Qlib programs have been hand-checked and hand-tested. All of the programs ran in the Year 2000 and passed all of our hand tests.

Here are the current version numbers associated with the license product:

Qlib Program and Version License Product Release
DeskQed 0.4 Suprtool 4.2.01
DeskQed 0.4 Qedit 4.7.01
PrintDoc 1.7 Suprtool 4.2.01
PrintDoc 1.7 Qedit 4.7.01
Prose 4.1 Qedit 4.7.01
Prose 4.1 Suprtool 4.2.01
Pscreen 89c Qedit 4.7.01
Pscreen 89c Suprtool 4.2.01
Qcopy 4.5 Qedit 4.7.01
Qcopy 4.6 Suprtool 4.2.01
Qhcomp 2.2 Qedit 4.7.01
Qhcomp 2.2 Suprtool 4.2.01
Qhelp 2.2 Qedit 4.7.01
Qhelp 2.2 Suprtool 4.2.01

There are a number of older Qlib programs that we are no longer shipping and did not have the source code for, so we cannot adequately insure that these programs will work properly beyond 1999.


Robelle Products and Year 2000 testing tools

If you are using SETDATE, Time Machine, HourGlass, or TimeWarp/3000 to help you with your Year 2000 MPE testing, read on.

There are four software products to test application programs for Year 2000 compatibility. These software tools allow you to set the date locally, for a program or a session, without changing the system date or rebooting the system.

The products are HourGlass 2000 from Allegro Consultants, Time Machine from SolutionSoft Systems, SETDATE from Hewlett-Packard, and TimeWarp/3000 from Omnisolutions.

Robelle products apply very tight integrity checking that verifies, among other things, whether the system date is correct. Our products ran well with HourGlass 2000, but would not run with SETDATE, Time Machine, or TimeWarp/3000.

Robelle software has now been changed so that it is more tolerant of SETDATE, TimeWarp and Time Machine’s methods of setting the system clock. We introduced this change into the following versions of Robelle software:

n.b. This change will only be effective in non-expiring versions of our programs.

If you're running an older version of our software, you'll need to update to a more current version before doing your Year2000 testing.


Year 2000 Compliance Liability Disclaimer

IT IS OUR INTENTION THAT ALL SOFTWARE PRODUCTS AND ASSOCIATED SERVICES PROVIDED BY ROBELLE CONSULTING LTD. BE Y2K COMPLIANT BEFORE THE END OF 1999. HOWEVER, SINCE Y2K READINESS IS AN ON-GOING EFFORT AND INFORMATION ON YEAR 2000 COMPUTER PROBLEMS IS RAPIDLY CHANGING, THE INFORMATION PROVIDED IN THIS WEB SITE IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITHOUT NOTICE. WE RECOMMEND THAT YOU PERIODICALLY VISIT OUR WEB SITE FOR THE LATEST INFORMATION ON THE Y2K READINESS OF OUR PRODUCTS AND SERVICES.

NOTHING IN THIS WEB SITE SHALL EXPOSE ROBELLE CONSULTING LTD. TO ANY GREATER LIABILITY THAN SET OUT IN THE CURRENT ROBELLE SOFTWARE AGREEMENT, AND ALL LIMITATIONS AND DISCLAIMERS IN THAT ROBELLE SOFTWARE AGREEMENT (INCLUDING SECTION 6 THEREOF) ARE INCORPORATED HEREIN BY THIS REFERENCE AND APPLY HERETO AS FULLY AS THOUGH SET FORTH HEREIN. IN NO EVENT WILL ROBELLE'S LIABILITY EXCEED THE AMOUNT PAID BY YOU TO ROBELLE FOR THE USE OF ROBELLE'S SOFTWARE AND ROBELLE SHALL NOT HAVE ANY OBLIGATIONS OR LIABILITY TO ANY THIRD PARTIES.