JEEZZ!! This Mansfield guy is again hyping; this IS predictable!! Now from 'Computerworld'
'I saved it as text:
Year 2000 Scoreboard | May 25, 1998
An occasional series on year 2000 trends, issues and statistics
===============================================================
Group urges sharing of embedded systems info
Year 2000, May 25, 1998 Year 2000 work on embedded systems is proceeding at
a snail's pace, and the resources being allocated are inadequate, according to
a coalition of more than a dozen grassroots year 2000 groups representing
information technology managers around the country. The only way to avoid huge
infrastructure problems around the world, they say, is for industries to
jointly fund embedded systems research and share the information.
In a joint statement on embedded systems, the groups say that even
organizations that have fixed their own embedded systems are often dependent
on other, similar businesses to fix theirs, and the dependencies can ruin the
internal efforts if their partners haven't kept up. The problem is
particularly prevalent in infrastructure industries such as
telecommunications, water, natural gas, electric, sewage treatment and health
care. Progress has been slowed because information isn't being shared. "We are
spending precious dollars doing [redundant] embedded and third-party product
research," the coalition says.
The fingers are ready to point
==============================
If your organization experiences a year 2000 failure, don't be surprised if
some executives engage in a "blame game."
Two surveys conducted in April by Howard A. Rubin, president of Rubin
Systems, Inc. in Pound Ridge, N.Y., found that senior information technology
professionals and senior business executives may tend to blame one another.
One hundred senior business executives and 120 senior IT professionals were
asked: If problems arise within your organization as a result of the year
2000, who should be held accountable?
Senior IT Professionals blamed:
===============================
Senior business management 62%
IT staff 24%
Software manufacturer 8%
Computer industry 3%
Hardware manufacturer 2%
Federal government 1%
Senior business executives blamed:
=================================
IT staff 47%
Senior business management35%
Software manufacturer9%
Hardware manufacturer 5%
Computer industry 4%
Another holdup: Disputes about who should pay for the fixes are prevalent,
and companies seem more focused on resolving those matters than on
remediation, the group says.
The coalition says that a failure in any of the infrastructure industries
could pose a serious threat to public safety, but it suggests that in some
industries, as little as $10 million could fund the needed research, making it
highly cost effective, if shared. If the research were shared with other
countries, they add, it might be the most cost effective foreign aid ever.
-Kathleen Melymuka
Legal tidbits :
Nothing beats good PR
The public relations value of good reporting to the Securities and Exchange
Commission on year 2000 preparedness can't be overstated; worried stockholders
can inflict far more damage than the problem itself.
"A public company might suffer, say, $100 million in [various year 2000]
damages, but a Fortune 500 company could absorb that," says attorney Jeff
Jinnett at LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene & MacRae, a New York law firm. "But if
shareholders start to panic and start selling their stock, the company might
lose 10 points off its stock price, which could be worth hundreds of
millions."
The perception problem can be greater than the reality, he says, so a good
due diligence record and outside audits can be useful for reassuring
shareholders, industry analysts, independent public accounts, regulators and
your own board of directors.
The devil's in the Dilbert
An underappreciated danger in year 2000 is the juxtaposition of public
disclosure and company E-mail because it presents many opportunities for
sabotage by unwitting corporate Dilberts, says Greg Cirillo, a partner at
Williams, Mullen, Christian & Dobbins in Richmond, Va.
A lot of year 2000 discussion takes place via E-mail, he says, and
information systems people with a "Dilbert attitude" may be saying things that
contradict the company's public statements. The person making the disclosures
may be unaware of the E-mails, or the E-mails could be just plain wrong, but
that isn't the point. "Some aggressive lawyer just has to dig that up and put
it next to the public record," Cirillo says.
-Kathleen Melymuka
Running behind
We know, we know : year 2000 problems have got you so overwhlemed, you just
can't keep up. Here's last month's Y2K Scoreboard.
Copyright 1998 @Computerworld. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or
in part in any form or medium without express written permission of
@Computerworld is prohibited.
Computerworld and @Computerworld and the respective logos are trademarks of
International Data Group, Inc.
=============================================================
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In article <6kf0nd$sfa@examiner.concentric.net>,
"Chad Tipton" <cltipton@red-rumspam.net> wrote:
>
> I tried your link but the server said the document was deleted.
>
> paul leblanc wrote in message <356AE7F6.4CEB@pop3.idt.net>...
> >What a surprise! Execs are ready to point the fickle finger of blame at
> >IT pros. And what another surprise! IT pros are ready to return the
> >favor.
> >
> >http://www2.computerworld.com/home/cwlaunch.nsf/launch?ReadForm&/home/featu
> res.nsf/$defaultview/E002E92CDEEEEF5A8525660C0075524E
> >
> >Scroll to see sidebar. - pl
>
>
-----== Posted via Deja News, The Leader in Internet Discussion ==-----
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____
Subject:
Re: Let the finger pointing begin
Date:
Tue, 26 May 1998 23:05:33 GMT
From:
fsrvival@my-dejanews.com
Organization:
Deja News - The Leader in Internet Discussion
Newsgroups:
comp.software.year-2000
References:
1 , 2 |
