February 29, 2008

Perhaps They Should Have Tested More - Leap Day Bugs

It's hard for me to believe that systems still experience Leap Day bugs.

But, apparently, it's still happening.
United Airlines had problems with its "Easy Check-In" kiosks.
http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D8V4AH8O0.htm
The South Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles "had a bug in one of the programs that calculates the date".
http://www.wspa.com/midatlantic/spa/news.apx.-content-articles-SPA-2008-02-29-0018.html
These Leap Days occur on a reasonably regular basis, right?  I seem to recall another one happening around four or five years ago.  I've heard from a reasonably reliable source that we may even see another in my lifetime.  They can't exactly be a surprise, can they?

Perhaps they should have tested more.

For information about Leap Day, see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leap_day