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

To: C.K. Houston who wrote (316)	10/24/1997 8:41:00 AM
From: C.K. Houston	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 9818

SEC FORCES FIRMS AND FUNDS TO DIVULGE YEAR 2000 COSTS (10/23/97) In what will probably result in a flood of "everything's under control" announcements, the Securities and Exchange Commission has ordered companies and mutual funds to provide detailed information on their year 2000 situation to investors, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal. The SEC has said it will begin looking closely at filings and annual reports for disclosures of significant costs or potential financial risks associated with the year 2000 problem. The new rules will require companies to tell investors about both material risks and general issues concerning Y2K, and those that don't address the issue will face registration problems and further scrutiny by the SEC.

To: C.K. Houston who wrote (316)	10/26/1997 11:46:00 AM
From: gamesmistress	Respond to of 9818

Y2K in the popular press Pretty good summary for the "average Joe" - like me. ASK MARILYN, by Marilyn Vos Savant Parade magazine, Oct. 26, 1997 I keep hearing about a malfunction in computers that will occur in the year 2000. What is this all about? -Mario Paniagua, Glendale, Ariz. Oh, this is such an incredible mess. The fallout from the problem is projected to range from a headache for a multitude of organizations- private and public-to a massive disruption of everyday life. The truth is probably somewhere in between, depending on how much money and manpower is spent on prevention before the magic date: 01/Ol/00 -- meaning Jan. l, 2000, not Jan. l, 1900. And that's exactly where the problem lies. Many of the world's computers-from those at the stock exchanges to those at the Internal Revenue Service-acquired their operations and built up their databases with software that was first developed decades ago (in the 1960s), when computers recorded dates in a six-digit format: MM/DD/YY, for example. At the time,it was necessary to minimize data space, and programs were relatively simple. Over the years, these systsms and programs blended into increasingly complex stroctures that evolved into the mainstay administrations of modern data processing. Although everyone involved knew that the last two digits refessd to the 20th century (the 1900s), it was taken for granted thatwhen the 2lst century arrived (the 2000s), new software would have long since eliminated the problem and appropriate changes would be made. That day is arriving, but the changes are turning out to be far more complicated and time consuming than anyone had dreamed. This is because there is no technologicat fix that works for a large number of programs, which have become highly customized over time and often were built with computer language that is now so obsolete that few people even know how to work with it. As a result, every date-sensitive system must be opened individually and operated upon by a skilled electronic surgeon. Old-style programmers are even coming out of retirement to help. This is no minor concern. Such elaborate computer systems run everything from hospital life-support systems to air-traffic control to the military's secret weapons programs. So the day after the world's biggest New Year's Eve party on 12/31/99 may be even more interesting than the one before it. When you get back home on 01/01/00, your lights may not go on, or the hands on your clocks may be spinning from the wrong power frequency. Your automated teller machine may not work, because your bank thinks your ATM card expired back when Queen Victoria did. Your neighborhood traffic lights may give mixed messages. Expect anything from calm to calamity.