An interesting article from NEWS.COM.AU about a potential problem similar to the Y2K bug. The good news is, it’s not going to occur until 2038 and secondly, technology will have dealt with this problem well and truly by then.
Basically, it’s to do with 32 bit systems and the biggest number that can be represented by the computer’s clock. But since 64 bit systems are becoming more prevalent, this won’t be an issue in the future. The biggest number that can be represented in a 32-bit system is 232 which is 4,294,967,296. This is also why 32 bit operating systems cannot address more than 4 gigabytes of memory because that is the biggest number that can be represented.
However, in 64-bit systems, the biggest number that can be represented is 264 which is 18,446,744,073,709,551,616 (18 exabytes).
It might be a while before we run into this issue again.
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