Chapter 635： The 0-year crisis that is enough to overturn the Internet world

The Millennium Bug, referring to the computer year 2000 problem, is also known as the computer millennium millennium problem, or the millennium crisis.

Many people don't understand and think it's a computer virus, but it's not.

The essence of the Millennium Bug problem is a computer program failure, which is caused by a defect in the computer program's processing algorithm. Foreigners call it Y2KBUG.

In the 1960s, computer technology was not as advanced as it is now, and the cost of its information storage was not as cheap as it is now. In order to save costs, people at the time used two-digit decimal arithmetic.

This algorithm, which has been used for the past three decades, has been deeply rooted in many aspects of computational programming, and has become part of today's computer architecture.

For the past three decades, there was no problem, and people ignored it until the millennium approached, and the drawbacks of the two-digit decimal algorithm were revealed.

Xu Ang vaguely remembered that people were worried and widely talked about the Millennium Bug problem in computers until the next year and the year after, that is, in 1997 and 1998. He didn't expect that because of his appearance, Li Yanhong's Du Niang appeared earlier. This issue was given attention a year or two in advance.

At least, after Li Yanhong mentioned the Millennium Bug issue, Xu Ang would definitely not hide the news. Penguins in China, as well as Twitter, Netscape, Fruit Company, etc. in the United States, Xu Ang would inform them.

This will not only allow them to prepare for the response in advance, but also focus everyone's wisdom to find a solution.

You must know that the Millennium Bug problem does not only occur in the millennium. After the new millennium, it will show up every tenth, causing countless programmers to scratch their heads, and also make countless Internet companies tremble, for fear that the problem will cause the company to suffer huge losses. .

"Millennium bug?"

Li Yanhong murmured twice and said, "Yes, this is the true image."

Xu Ang asked him, "Did you think of a solution?"

Du Niang is a search engine, which will inevitably involve time. If this problem is not solved, when users use Du Niang to search, it is very likely that they are looking for things from 1997, but information from other years appears.

"I'm trying to figure it out."

Worrying that Xu Ang didn't understand, Li Yanhong explained: "The Millennium Bug problem was because in the 1960s, computer programmers used two digits to indicate the year in order to save storage space. Later, although the price of memory was reduced due to the rapid development of technology, this kind of Algorithms appear because of the inertia of thinking. If you don’t solve it, the computer will not be able to correctly identify the years 2000 and later, and the impact will be too great.”

"Boss, I'm not alarming. But don't think it's just a matter of time and technology, nothing serious. With your eyes and your knowledge of the Internet, you should be able to know that from computer systems, including PCs, microcodes to operating systems, Database software, commercial software and application systems, etc., to telephone program-controlled exchanges related to computers and automatic control, bank ATMs, security systems, factory automation systems, and even a large number of electronic appliances, machinery and equipment that use embedded chip technology. Control systems...etc, everything that this whole set of computers can affect will be affected. If the Millennium Bug problem is not solved, none of them will be spared."

"Affecting so many aspects, it can be said that the entire computer industry, as well as the Internet era brought about by the emergence of computers, may be severely hit by the Millennium Bug problem. If users no longer trust computers because of this, we hope The Internet era will have to wait for many years, or even die prematurely.”

The more Li Yanhong spoke, the more afraid he became.

Before yesterday, he would never have imagined that the Internet world, which had already seen the boundless future, would be in danger of being overturned because of such a small problem as the time counting algorithm.

The most frustrating thing for Li Yanhong is that even if he saw such a big problem, he thought of it, but he didn't dare to say it, even the company's internal executives didn't dare to tell it. The fear is that if the news leaks out, it will cause unpredictable changes.

You must know that due to the good development momentum of Du Niang, many internationally renowned venture capitalists have extended an olive branch to her and expressed their willingness to become a shareholder.

The business is booming, and seeing that good days are coming, a fatal crisis suddenly emerges, almost breaking Li Yanhong's old waist.

Today, Li Yanhong sat in the company for a whole day, thinking about it, his head was big, and his hair was pulled out. He still didn't think of a proper way to deal with it, forcing him to come to Xu Ang.

"A continuation of habitual thinking, as I say, is laziness. Those guys in the West who enjoy high welfare benefits by plundering the underdeveloped areas of the world, their laziness in their bones makes them unwilling to work seriously at all, unless a crisis comes, they will If you find it, you will choose to ignore it.”

Xu Ang pouted, the reason why the Millennium Bug appeared was that people wanted to save trouble. Even if computer technology improved and the price of memory dropped, they didn't bother to change the expedient measures that were limited to technical and cost considerations. .

Knowing that there will be problems, but in order not to increase their workload, they do not make changes. They just think that they will not encounter problems when they are working, and leave the problems to the younger generation. This is in line with the national conditions of high-welfare pension countries.

Xu Ang said to Li Yanhong: "Change the algorithm."

Li Yanhong: "Huh?"

This is a big project, not so easy to say.

Xu Ang added: "Quietly change."

"I will contact Steve and let him be the main person in charge. The Fruit Company is also doing the system. You said that if the Fruit Company's system was changed, and Bill's Microsoft was in a hurry when the problem was discovered, wouldn't it be interesting? Me? But I know that Microsoft has invested a lot of resources in making a new operating system in order to regain the share lost by the fruit company to stabilize its dominance in the operating system. If all goes well, this operation The system will be released later, do you think they have considered the problem of the Millennium Bug?"

"this……"

Li Yanhong was not sure.

He wasn't sure, but Xu Ang was sure: "I didn't think about it so comprehensively until I died, so I still used two-digit decimal arithmetic."

Li Yanhong was secretly shocked by the strength of his boss.

Today, Microsoft relies on the operating system. The operating system is their lifeblood. A new operating system is related to Microsoft's life and death. If such a project is absolutely confidential, Xu Ang can actually get involved and see what he has to say. The tone obviously understands him very well, why not shock Li Yanhong.

Li Yanhong didn't know that it was Microsoft's classic operating system. Even after it was released for 20 years, many people were still using it. How could Xu Ang not be aware of it?

"Don't say anything about this. After the New Year, I will find a space to gather Steve, Mark, you and Lao Ma together, and let's discuss how to do it together."