Microsoft Outlook sends users back to 1930 with (very) mini-Millennium-Bug glitch
- Reference: 1663252213
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2022/09/15/microsoft_outlook_date_glitch/
- Source link:
Those with long enough memories will recall the [1]Millennium Bug , a feature of software design resulting in two-digit date fields which failed to accommodate the new century beyond the end of 1999. To save memory, early coders used the shortcut, never expecting their creations to last so long.
Blowing up into a phenomenon which even merited its own logo in the UK, the mission to fix the glitch was either an overblown scam to suck money into the tech industry or a well-planned exercise in risk avoidance, depending on who you believe.
[2]
Microsoft's Outlook glitch is nothing like that but is a tad embarrassing for the global software giant, which perhaps needs to sort it out.
[3]Remember when Microsoft was going to put Azure in space? It's still trying
[4]Microsoft fixes Windows security hole likely widely exploited by miscreants
[5]Microsoft scales up Azure's Policy-as-code in 'new approach'
[6]Security pros get ability to manually add incidents to Microsoft Sentinel
An eagle-eyed infosec pro spotted the problem and described it to the world in a [7]LinkedIn post . The Register has replicated it on a desktop-bound Outlook app (Office 365), linked to an online account.
In short, the application won't let the user navigate to a date after December 31, 2029, using the date field [Ctrl + G] and abbreviating the year. If they key in the 01/01/30, Outlook sends the user back to 1930, where they may have to deal with a collapsing global economy and rising fascism.
[8]
Keen users can test this with a control: key in 31/12/29 and they will land in the future to enjoy floating skateboards and food in pill form. If they key in the date in full, they seem to end up in the correct era. Using the GUI and clicking a diary entry after 2030 seems to work fine, too.
In comparison with the existential challenges facing humanity, an Outlook date glitch may seem a small thing. But still one worth fixing.
[9]
The Reg has asked Microsoft to comment. ®
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[1] https://www.theregister.com/2000/01/07/y2k_bug_lurking_in_microsoft/
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YyNMH31didhn56Vudx1JxAAAAMQ&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://www.theregister.com/2022/09/14/microsoft_azure_space_satellite/
[4] https://www.theregister.com/2022/09/13/microsoft_patch_tuesday_september_2022/
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2022/09/12/microsoft_azure_policy_as_code/
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2022/09/12/microsoft_sentinel_manual_siem_reports/
[7] https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6935977923925463040/
[8] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YyNMH31didhn56Vudx1JxAAAAMQ&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[9] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YyNMH31didhn56Vudx1JxAAAAMQ&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[10] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: Collapsing global economy and rising fascism.
There's an acronym for it too:
SNAFU.
Not Just Outlook
I believe most Microsoft products currently assumes that two digit years from 30 upwards are 19nn, and I doubt it's unique to them.
Excel certainly works that way, enter 31/12/29 and you get 31/12/2029; enter 01/01/30 and you get 01/01/1930, although for MS SQL 01/01/50 is the changeover date.
Off topic but...
Can you get rid of that bloody questionnaire? I filled it in hoping it would then vanish but it's still stalking me page after page. TIA.
Re: Off topic but...
If you mean the "cookie consent" banner, it's actually unnecessary as it hides a link at the bottom of the page ( [1]Your consent options that should do the same thing. The myth that cookie banners are required by law is actually a massive con. The law requires consent to be sought for non-essential trackers (including cookies) but it's actually unlawful to try and coerce consent by interfering with access to a site (e.g. by use of intrusive banners). The problem is that if there were just a passive link, nobody would follow it and agree to non-essential trackers, so the industry has decided to make it annoying so we are temped to clock through thoughtlessly, giving them the supposed right to use non-essential trackers. I say 'supposed' because it's actually breaking the law. It's notable that the banner you are apparently objecting to is much larger than strictly necessary and obscures the foot of the page content.
The problem though is that the regulators don't really give two hoots about this kind of law breaking, to the extent that the UK govt. is trying to remove the consent requirement on the ironic basis that people don't like the essentially illegal cookie banners. So because people object to businesses breaking the law by coercing consent in order to track us, we're going to make what they're doing lawful by allowing them to track us without consent (so they won't need to use the annoying banners any more).
[1] https://www.theregister.com/Design/page/consent_options.html
Re: Off topic but...
I like your rant but I think the poster is referring to the 'What are the biggest tech-related initiatives impacting your organisation right now?' inline panel that appears at the bottom of every article, whether you've answered it or not.
Maybe it gets blocked by certain ad/tracker blockers, but I get it here at work.
Can confirm, the millennium bug was mostly "an overblown scam to suck money into the tech industry", peddled by people who mostly didn't know the difference between a bug and a virus, and had magic snake-oil fixes for sale.
Because obviously if my 1990s electromechanical washing machine thinks it hasn't been invented yet, it is going to spew water everywhere and spontaneously combust.
Maybe so...
But my dad caning overtime on late 90's millennium bug ERP projects paid to put me through university, so I'm not complaining!
Yet another example
Yet another example of why automatic updates are a bad idea - particularly [1]stealthy updates .
[1] https://www.theregister.com/2022/09/15/microsoft_365_automatic_update/
Collapsing global economy and rising fascism.
So no real change then - Situation normal.