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Updated: February 21, 2020 10:44 PM PST
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PowrUSER PRO's Y2K Handling for PowerBBS
TOPICS
Good News!
The Millennium Is Here!
This information page is here to answer questions and concerns about Y2K issues within PowerBBS and how PowrUSER PRO's Y2K Handling for PowerBBS is being constructed in order to deal with them. The good news is, we don't think you'll have to sweat it! But read on...
We will attempt to keep all relevant information on PowrUSER PRO's Y2K Handling for PowerBBS here. We'll update this page anytime we've got new new information to add for you. Please peruse this file for answers to your questions! But if you don't see it, just ask! Brad.Friedman@cville.com
PowerBBS's underlying structure, like many applications developed years ago (and indeed recently as well!) handles dates in a two-digit format instead of a four-digit format. So the year 1998 is usually recorded within PBBS's various data files as simply "98". That's all well and good in the years prior to 2000. But after that, many machines and operating systems will understand that two-digit date to represent 2098 instead of 1998.
With PowerBBS, this is a concern even before the Year 2000 because Sysops who track Subscription Expiration Dates for users may find that a user set to Expire on February 14, 2000 will end up getting marked for Expiration by PowerBBS well prior to that date since PBBS may think the user is actually set to Expire on February 14, 1900!
There are other concerns aside from User Records that we are looking at and working to handle gracefully for you with PowrUSER PRO's Y2K Handling for PowerBBS, including dates within Message Bases and File Lists etc.
Our hope is to make it all as painless as possible for you. If you've worked with any of our other PowrTOOLS for PowerBBS or PowerGenerator, hopefully we've built up a cache of trust with you and you know our work to be as Sysop Friendly and Bug Free as possible. We're attempting to make the Y2K Issue as much of a no-brainer for you as running any of the other PowrTOOLS has ever been! Hell - more so!
Will PowerBBS or PowerAccess themselves be
changed to handle Y2K?
At this point, we do not know what, if anything, will be done to change the PowerBBS data structures themselves. Restructuring everything from the two-digit format to a four-digit format in programs as large as PowerBBS and PowerAccess is exceedingly difficult, and more than a bit risky.
So, as of the writing of this paragraph, with just a bit more than a year to go before Y2K, we feel it's best to assume that there will be no major changes to either the PBBS or PA data structures themselves before the new Millennium. Even if changes were to occur, Sysops need to start planning for Y2K now, particularly if they run Subscriptions systems and Expiration Dates for users need to be set into the year 2000 and beyond!
Both Ronny and myself, however, are working with PowerBBS Computing as needed and we may be making some changes to utilities such as Powrpack.exe and/or other crucial utilties if it is deemed necessary or helpful. PowerBBS Computing has informed us that this solution is supported and their cooperation has been offered. Ronny and I have worked closely with PBBS in the past at various times and we look forward to continuing that relationship into 2000.
Glad you asked! Since PowrUSER PRO has been the trusted favorite for PowerBBS User Management for years -- (It's the easiest and most full-featured PowerBBS User Editor ever imagined by man! Have you tried it? But I digress...) -- and since the Y2K issues are so closely tied to PBBS User Management, it seems that an update or two to PowrUSER PRO will be the wisest and most painless way to help Sysops survive the approaching millennium.
Assuming that changes to PBBS and PA themselves from are currently out of the picture (see the above section), and with Subscription Expiration Dates already an issue for many Sysops, Ronny Brodin and myself have discussed the issue and developed a plan to minimize the problems, and make the transition an easy one for everybody!
After looking at the issue in depth, and we continue to do so even now, the problems do not appear to be particular difficult for sysops to handle. Our plan is to update PowrUSER PRO as your tool to help you get through it all without a problem. And with any luck, without even noticing!
The User Editor within PowerBBS's CONFIG and the tools in the PowerBBS Local Display will be of little help as 2000 grows near and nearly useless after that. The information they give concerning dates will most likely be inaccurate at times especially after Jan. 1, 2000. Other 3rd Party user management tools will most likely have a similar problem since they all rely on the two-digit date structures in PowerBBS.
We're building PowrUSER PRO v3.0 to handle PowerBBS's Y2K issues for you! So it's important that you use only PowrUSER PRO for User Management at this time! Not PBBS's CONFIG, PBBS's Local Display or other otherwise excellent 3rd Party Tools! This is not a ploy for sales! It's a ploy to help you keep your PBBS System and it's Data correct and working without headache well into the Year 2000 and beyond!
PowrUSER PRO v3.0 (Y2K Handling for PowerBBS is only built-in to v3.0 or greater! So we recommend you get it and start using it as soon as possible!) will handle PBBS' two-digit date structures intelligently and manage those dates intuitively to allow you to manage Users, Expiration Dates, AutoUpgrades, Birthdays, Most Recent Calls and any other date related field as if 2000 was just another average year that follows 1999 (which, btw, it is!)
When necessary, certain dates may be marked as "flags" within PowerBBS's User Record to keep Users from being marked as EXPIRED when they log on or KILLED during Powrpacking due to DAYS OF INACTIVITY or SUBSCRIPTION EXPIRATIONS. Since we will be setting some dates as "flags" those dates will be inaccurate when viewed with a User Editor other than PowrUSER PRO (including Config etc!) so it's important - as stated above - to use PowrUSER PRO only!
For example, a user set to expire on July 19, 2000, will be recorded in the PBBS User Record as expiring on 12-31-99 so that they will not be inadvertantly deleted by Powrpacking in 1999, or set as Expired by PBBS itself! PowrUSER PRO, however, will keep track of the real expiration dates (and others) and display them correctly to you in PowrUSER PRO! Due to this, Users may be get false EXPIRATION warnings in late 1999. Please notify them of this problem, and that they needn't worry about their Expiration Date if it is set to occur for 12-31-99 that is only to keep the integrity of the data. After the turn of the century, their Expiration information will then be reset correctly. Please inform them as necessary.
No. There's a bit more to it. Quite a bit actually. But nothing you'll need to worry about for the time being. PowrUSER PRO v3.0 will begin handling date issues within the PBBS User Record immediately. And we recommend that you begin using it now for precisely that reason!
There are other Y2K related issues within PowerBBS aside from User Management that must be handled as well, but those problems will not be of concern to the Sysop until after December 31, 1999. Those issues, some concerning Message Bases and File Listings etc., are not terribly difficult to handle we feel. And we'll be working on those throughout the next several months culminating in PowrUSER PRO v3.1 to be released in 1999 - well in time to take care of everything you'll need taken care of as the Year 2000 hits. Those issues will also be handled elegantly and painlessly for you by PowrUSER PRO!
PowrUSER PRO v3.1 is a free upgrade to PowrUSER PRO v3.0 owners.
December 31, 1999
PowrUSER PRO v3.1 is released containg STAGE II of the two stage "Update for Y2K!" functionality added to TOOLS menu. Updating User Bases, File Lists and Message Bases (though due to an illness from our friend Ronny Brodin, the Message Base updating is not included in this update. Hopefully effects will be minimal, and we will try to include them as soon as possible.)October 30, 1998
PowrUSER PRO v3.0 is released containing STAGE I of Y2K Handling for PowerBBS. The two-stage process will be completed in the next major release of PowrUSER PRO (mostly likely v3.1). Details to come right here!As new issues, concerns or Q&A's arise, we'll keep you apprised of it here as well as on the PowerBBS Internet Mailing List. If you are not currently subscribed to the PowerBBS-List, it's a very good idea to do so right away!
Just send mail to MailList@winpoint.com and in the body type: JOIN PowerBBS-List
See ya there, and stay tuned!
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