| Sometimes when companies are putting out beta software they build in something called a time bomb. It's a hard-coded date when the software will stop working so that beta testers can't just continue using the beta software after the original software gets released. Occasionally (the company I work for is guilty of this) somebody forgets to take out a time bomb when the software is officially released.
This smells very much like a time bomb. Perhaps they forgot to take out one of the time bombs in their firmware after the latest firmware came out of beta. Of course, if this was the case I would have expected them to realize what it was right away and release a fix. Unless it's a really good time bomb that completely rendered the hardware useless, in which case Microsoft is just buying time, trying to find a way to fix the issue without having to recall how many million Zunes.
I just find it hard to believe that there's anything wrong with the date of Dec 31, 2008. Was this year a leap year? That's the only thing I can think of would be if this day was a leap year, meaning today is day 366 of the year. If the Zune is somehow hard-coded to have only 365 days in a year then that might cause problems.
__________________ Adventure is not outside; it is within. --Found in a fortune cookie on game night Strangely I think I'd be okay with having a PC die by a bear exploding out of his head. --Awayfarer, after having his PC put a furry ball from a Bag of Tricks into his mouth. | 
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