Keystroke POS Software & the Year 2000

Keystroke POS software is and always has been completely ready to properly handle dates beyond the year 2000.

Concerns over the year 2000 are due to the fact that many computer software programs (and some hardware) store the year portion of dates as a two digit figure and cannot distinguish between the century (e.g., 01/01/00 may represent either 1900 or 2000).  The Keystroke program does not have this problem since it stores dates using a standard serialized date method.

In Keystroke, dates are stored as a value which represents the number of days since an arbitrary point in time,  December 31, 1984.  In other words, Keystroke stores the date January 1, 1985 as the number "1",  January 1, 2000 as the number "5479",  and so on.  Whenever Keystroke displays or prints a date, it automatically converts it to the conventional MM/DD/YY format.   If you still have concerns, please test the Keystroke program for yourself by entering dates in the pop-up Calendar function.  For example, if you enter [01/01/00], observe that the Calendar function will display January 1, 2000.   The program will also accept dates entered with the full four-digit year (e.g., 1.1.2020).

Although the Keystroke program itself is capable of handling year 2000 dates,  your computer system may still have year 2000 problems.  A simple testing method is to change your internal system clock(s) to near midnight on December 31, 1999 and test all aspects of the system as the clock ticks into the year 2000.  If you encounter any problems,  you should contact the computer manufacturer or company from which you purchased the product.

At SBS, we have tested our computers using several methods.  We have found that in most cases, even on older systems,  that by turning off the computer on 12/31/99 and then turning it on again 01/01/00,  the system date will either be correct or we will simply need to enter the correct date. Some of the older systems will not "roll" to the correct date (01/01/00), therefore, a one time manual corrected date entry is required.  Once again,  this is a hardware related issue and has nothing to do with the Keystroke program itself.

SBS recommends for all businesses using Keystroke to have their systems checked for possible problems by a qualified consulting firm.  This includes everything from computer system BIOS,  internal clocks,  and operating systems to other software applications and credit card processing service providers.  Please note that not all credit card processors are ready for the year 2000;  and that as they become compliant,  the Keystroke Credit Card Authorization module may require minor modifications.  It is SBS policy to promptly accommodate any such changes as they occur.

If you have any further questions about the Keystroke program that are related to its ability to handle year 2000 dates,  please contact us at 800-359-3458.

Thank you for your interest and continued use of Keystroke POS software.