14 DAY TRIAL // As soon as the year 2009 was gone and we entered the new year, some of the mobile phone users around the world started to experience an interesting error with their messages: they were, and some still are, dated 2016. The bug has reportedly affected a series of Windows Mobile-based handsets, but also some that do not run under this operating system.
According to WExperts, Microsoft has already acknowledged the issue, and provided an official statement on the matter: “Microsoft is aware of reports that phone messages received after 1/1/2010 may be dated 2016. These reports have not yet resulted in widespread customer inquiries; however, we are working closely with our manufacturing and mobile operator partners to investigate the cause and correct the issue as appropriate.”
Interestingly enough, even if Windows Mobile 6.1 and Windows Mobile 6.5 handsets are affected, the bug is present only on some of the phones based on the OS, but not on all of them. The same applies to wireless carriers, it seems, as not all of them are affected by the issue. This will probably make it a little harder for an official patch to be delivered, since it does not affect all devices out there.
However, it seems that an unofficial fix for this bug is already available for those who experience problems. The fix is said to come only as a temporarily workaround for the issue, in the form of a .cab file now available for download, yet an official patch is still needed to make sure that all things are put back in order. More details on the workaround are available here.
The most interesting part of the story is that mobile phones are not the only devices affected by the bug, at least this is what Wexperts notes: “The bug is also affecting EFTPOS terminals in Australia. Retail stores can't charge transactions to customer's credit cards, because the EFTPOS terminal thinks the data is 2016 and therefore the customer's card is considered expired.”