<To read these posts from mostly non-data processing processionals really cracks me up.>
For five years I developed customized software applications for my ex's company. He sold his company to someone listed on NYSE. I did same for them for 2 more years.
BTW: The company designed & manufactured some of those little black boxes that are on plant floors. The ones filled with embedded systems. Boxes that were soldered shut. His company had 85% of the automotive market. Medical market was growing rapidly.
Way back when ... As we transferred files from Lotus to the database, I questioned what a lot of these items were that were listed in the Bill of Materials.
Like "RTC" ... Real Time Clock. Cute little things in those little black plastic boxes of theirs. I have one, so I can show people what they look like.
Purchasing agent (delightful, hard-working lady with high-school degree and no technical experience), would order automatically off of index cards. Eventually did the same off of Bill of Material database.
As orders came in, she went into the back-room and dump the new order of RTC's into a cardboard box, along with what else was there. If one of the BIG black boxes were returned, for whatever reason - and not re-sold, they took it apart ... and put the old parts back into those cardboard boxes. What happened is you had a bunch of RTC's in one cardboard box. RTC's that were ordered over a 1-2 yr period.
This is how I understood just how bad this whole embedded system thing was.
My ex was a Rice graduate engineer. It took me 6 months to convince him about the problem at the company. Even though he sold the company, he was still on the board. When I explained he could run into personal liability ... he learned real fast. He went to the CEO of the NYSE company and explained their problem and where it might be in other companies they owned. They did nothing. Laughed at him. Like you are now, to us.
He's no longer on the board. Put warnings in writing to protect himself from liability. Sold most of his stock.
Why don't you print this post out and give to your programmer buddies.
How much do you know about "embedded systems"? At one conference last spring, head of Y2K for a Pfizer research facility was sitting next to me. He had an IT background. He was there trying to learn about embedded systems. I had dinner with head of Y2K for AMOCO. Nice guy. Same IT background. Told me embedded systems had been new to him. Took a long time to grasp. Still was learning. Lucky he had some electrical engineers who understood.
CIO of GM, in a FORTUNE article last fall ... said he had an IT background, and it took him a year to grasp the complexities of embedded systems. GM got a late start. In article, he used the word "catastrophic" several times.
So, laugh all you want kiddo. You got your head in the sand. Your focus is way too narrow.
Cheryl
P.S. Aren't you the programmer who works for some retail company? From what I remember, your company is farther ahead than most. Seems I remember your name from a couple of years ago, when there was a lot of technical discussion on Y2K Investment thread. Have you talked to the programming departments for all of your suppliers to see how they're doing? Might find some surprises there. |
