Y2K Versions

[Deskin, Bob]

There have been a number of messages in this thread and I'd like to
respond to some of the comments.

First off, regarding support, 7.10G is considered an upgrade in the same
line as 7.10F so we are ending development support (bug fixes) for 7.10F
and 7.10Fn. This means that there won't be a 7.10F5. Any fixes would be
directed to using 7.10G as a base. 7.10G (and bug fixe versions) will
have development support until at least June, 2000.

But development support is only part of support. The other major
component is telephone support. As long as you're a supported customer,
we'll take calls on any version of a supported product. The answer may
be that you have to upgrade to the current version to get a fix, but we
won't just cut you off.

Regarding "millenium compliance" versus "friendly", I would go along
with Kevin's opinions, although I don't think that the user specifiable
default century is totally useless. But of course that's just my humble
opinion.

Regarding the move from 7.10E or F or Fn to 7.10G, yes there are new
features and yes there's a dictionary conversion and yes you should test
your applications (don't you do this anyway?), but take a close look at
each of these. The new features are year 2000 oriented. They were
designed not to affect any existing functionality. The dictionary
conversion is needed because PhD is now year 2000 compliant and based on
a PhD/PDL metadictionary. There was no change in the code base we used
and so we expect that the upgrade should be straightforward.

Nothing you did to applications in 7.10Fn should be negated by moving to
7.10G unless you choose to make use of the new features. Then, like any
other new feature, you'll have to evaluate the new feature versus your
existing functionality.

Also note that 7.10G was built on OpenVMS 6.2 which DEC has stated is
year 2000 safe/ready/compliant. It's also been tested on OpenVMS 7.1.

Regarding timing, I've been focusing on Year 2000 for over 3 years.
7.10F2 was released on Oct. 1, 1996, almost 2 years ago, in response to
the year 2000 problem in PowerHouse on OpenVMS. We've had a Year 2000
statement available on request for over a year and a statement on our
web site for over 6 months.

Bob Deskin              
Senior Product Advisor  bob.deskin@cognos.com
Cognos Inc.             (613) 738-1338 ext 4205 FAX: (613) 228-3149
3755 Riverside Drive P.O. Box 9707 Stn. T, Ottawa ON K1G 4K9 CANADA


> ----------
> From: 	Kevin Gordon[SMTP:Kevin.Gordon@seacontainers.com]
> Sent: 	Thursday, July 23, 1998 5:14 AM
> To: 	'powerhouse list server'
> Subject: 	RE: Y2K Versions
> 
> Mark Stewart wrote:
> 
> "7.10.F4 is no longer supported after the release of 7.10.G."
> 
> This is getting silly! No way is Cognos going to withdraw support for
> an
> immediately prior version as soon as the next one is released -
> especially
> when that release (7.10.G) is a major upgrade requiring a dictionary
> conversion and recompilation and re-testing of all applications. I
> presume
> you must have meant that the 7.10.Fn release is no longer being
> maintained,
> i.e. no 7.10.F5 etc, but AFAIK Cognos has not said this. In the past
> RBFs
> have continued to be issued simultaneously for more than one version,
> e.g.
> 6.20 and 7.10. In practice some level of support is provided for all
> prior
> versions, you just have to be prepared to be told that the best
> solution to
> your problem is to upgrade.
> 
> There still seems to be a lot of confusion about "millennium
> compliance" and
> "millennium friendliness" 7.10.F2 (which has been out for around a
> year) is
> the first "millennium compliant" version, though earlier releases were
> only
> non-compliant due to a quirk when the system date got to Feb 29, 2000.
> 7.10.G is the first "millennium friendly" version, i.e. it gives the
> developer sensible options for handling the transition from one
> century to
> the next as smoothly as possible. Earlier versions had a Default
> Century
> option which was, IMHO, totally useless and might just as well have
> been
> hard-coded as 19 for all the good it did.
> 
> Just my opinions of course!
> 
> Kevin Gordon
> Sea Containers
> London
> 
> VAX/AXP VMS 6.2 & 7.1
> Oracle Rdb various versions from 6.0.1.3 to 7.0.1.2
> PowerHouse 7.10.F2 & 7.10.G (testing)
> 
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