The practical engineer. Making embedded systems year 2000 compliant

Most embedded systems are designed to work on their own, performing only one or two tasks independently of other systems. This paper details how fixing the Millennium bug in such systems will require not only a hardware change but also changes to the embedded software. In many cases, the companies that designed the devices no longer exist. In those whose doors are still open, management's concern with quarterly profit takes precedence over spending to fix a problem that has yet to occur. All the same, a few enlightened managers have realized that, while the costs of making these changes will be enormous, the price of not making them will be staggering.