Flashforward annoyance

[Todd Larason]

One of the bits of the future observed in Robert Sawyer's _Flashforward_
is:

Bill Gates lost his fortune: Microsoft stock tumbled badly in
2027, in response to a new version of the Year-2000 crisis.
Older Microsoft software stored dates as thirty-two-bit strings
representing the number of seconds that had passed since January
1, 1970; they ran out of storage space in 2027.

The book was already grating on my nerves, but this made me fling it
across the room. Not only does no Microsoft software I'm aware of store
dates that way (they use packed year/month/day/hour/minute/second fields
sometimes, and floating point second counts relative to 1980 sometimes -
the described format is used by Unix), but the math is simply wrong;
signed 32 bit second counters from a 1970 epoch won't wrap until 2038.

Spoilers ho, kinda.

The ending didn't help any, either. I can't believe I stayed up late
hoping/expecting for a good ending to salvage the silliness of the rest
of it.

[jay_g...@my-deja.com]

In article <slrn8pk6v...@nano.priv.molehill.org>,

j...@molehill.org (Todd Larason) wrote:
> One of the bits of the future observed in Robert Sawyer's
> _Flashforward_ is:
>
> Bill Gates lost his fortune: Microsoft stock tumbled badly in
> 2027, in response to a new version of the Year-2000 crisis.

> [snip]

> The book was already grating on my nerves, but this made me fling it
> across the room.

My biggest gripe was the alleged winner of the "Cola Wars," since
Coke is marketed worldwide, and Pepsi's marketing is pretty much
limited to North America, IIRC.

[_Flashforward_ spoiler warning!]
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Oh, well. The future's malleable, isn't it? (wink wink, nudge
nudge)

--Jay Goemmer

Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Before you buy.

[Cosmin Corbea]

<jay_g...@my-deja.com> wrote in message
news:8nesok$k9a$1...@nnrp1.deja.com...

[Re: Robert Sawyer's _Flashforward_ ]

> My biggest gripe was the alleged winner of the "Cola Wars," since
> Coke is marketed worldwide, and Pepsi's marketing is pretty much
> limited to North America, IIRC.

Haven't read the book, but Pepsi was available in Eastern Europe (bottled
locally in Romania and other Warsaw pact countries) long before Coke. Only
after the fall of communism did Coca-Cola start taking an interest in those
areas.

Regards,

Cosmin Corbea

[Mike Andrews]

Scripsit Cosmin Corbea <cos...@canada.no_spam_pls.com>:

: Haven't read the book, but Pepsi was available in Eastern Europe (bottled

: locally in Romania and other Warsaw pact countries) long before Coke. Only
: after the fall of communism did Coca-Cola start taking an interest in those
: areas.

This confirms my notions about the Soviet government condoning,
or at least winking at, pollution. ;=)

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