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Technology Stocks : Discuss Year 2000 Issues -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: C.K. Houston who wrote (6036)	6/17/1999 7:04:00 PM
From: Judge	Respond to of 9818

I remember -- from Wired News: Millennium Costs Dismissed as Buggy by Adam L. Penenberg 12:01pm 10.Feb.97.PST The Office of Management and Budget released a report last week estimating it will cost taxpayers $2.3 billion to ensure the US government's million-plus computers don't crash when 1999 turns into 2000. But the technology industry contends that the government's estimates are way off the mark (some estimates place the figure at more than $30 billion) and that if something isn't done soon - before 1999 - computer chaos could reign. "The issue isn't whether it's a crisis but how much it will cost," said Ira Morrow, a research director for the financial services industry at Gartner Group. "The government's estimates are way too low. There is no 'silver bullet,' no automated way to do this. It must be done computer by computer. We're not only dealing with 30-year-old code in some cases, but also the interfaces between systems." Gartner Group estimates the cost of upgrading at $1.10 per line of code, with some computers requiring millions of new lines. And the longer the government waits, the worse it could get. "The closer we get to 1999, the more it's going to cost, since the people who can fix it will be tied up, and the fewer options the government will have," Morrow said. "We think it would be a terrible waste if the government didn't also take the opportunity to upgrade their computer systems while they fix the Millennium Bug problem." Anybody who has accidentally included a typo in a URL knows that one problem with computers is their literal nature. Since computer systems were designed to express year in two digits instead of four, when 2000 rolls around, many computers will read it as 1900, and this could be a bookkeeping nightmare. For example, the Labor Department recently requested $200 million to help states fix their unemployment systems. If they aren't fixed, then it's possible there will be no unemployment checks. A hundred years spent looking for a job is a long time (and it's likely benefits would run out). The OMB report concludes that "Unless [government computer systems] are fixed or replaced, they will fail at the turn of the century in one of three ways: They will reject legitimate entries, or they will compute erroneous results, or they will simply not run.... The potential impact on federal programs if this problem is not corrected is substantial and potentially very serious." As a result, the OMB has concocted a neat strategy in five phases: awareness, assessment (inventory and scope of problem), renovation (coding complete), validation (management sign-off), and implementation (integrated testing), to be completed just before the clock chimes 2000. But the government rarely gets things done on time and Morrow contends that the OMB's 2000 deadline is as inaccurate as its budget estimates. "It may be called 'The Year 2000 Crisis' but since most businesses operate on a one-year time horizon, a year's budget or plan at a time, you'll begin to feel major impact in 1999. No one expected these systems to live this long. Basing the date on two digits may have made sense 20 years ago, but it's coming back to haunt us." wired.com Hope you're well, Cheryl. You continue to do your usual fine job of researching current y2k developments for the rest of us. Thanks, as always. Cathleen

To: C.K. Houston who wrote (6036)	6/17/1999 10:47:00 PM
From: Jeff Mizer	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 9818

Excerpt below on Hamasakis latest- kiyoinc.com *************** excerpt ******** Just today (June 17) a report came in of a Y2K test in Van Nuys that spilled 4 million gallons of raw sewage into a park. How many water treatment plants have run tests? Three, eight, a hundred? What about plants that make halogen gas, acids, pesticides, explosives, stuff that will take chrome off bumpers? What about boilers, pressurized steam, foundries, molten metal, uh-oh. Whoa-OH!