To: ahhaha who wrote (1778 ) 12/20/1997 5:29:00 PM From: John Mansfield Respond to of 4903
Y2K-INTERNET - 'Year 2000 Problem Slows Internet Development'entmag.com Found on www.year2000.com. TO ALL, Well, I was just waiting for such an article. This makes a stronger point for the thesis that increasingly in 1998, all IT vendors will be judged by: 1). what part of their business helps in solving Y2K 2). what part does not help solve Y2K Valuation at the stock market of firms doing much in 2) and not shifting towards 1) will be accordingly lower, IMHO. What does this mean for the stock value of Netscape? (and other internet stocks)? Any thoughts? Regards, John --------------------------- Michele Rosen December 17, 1997 What a difference a year makes. During the past 12 months, software and hardware vendors have released a variety of products designed to help companies create advanced Web-based applications that incorporate host-based data. But most companies have yet to take advantage of this new technology. While there seem to be a number of reasons for this delay, several industry experts agree the year 2000 problem is at least partially to blame. "Resources have been cordoned off to work on the year 2000, so there's less people around to work on new stuff," says Tom Gormley, a senior analyst for Forrester Research Inc. (Cambridge, Mass.). "As it gets closer to the witching hour, companies just start to freak out, and so everything stops." As a result, after the ball has dropped and the champagne has been drunk, corporate IT managers may find that the year 2000 problem has cost their companies more than money; they may have also lost the chance to get a head start on their competitors in the race to build Web-enabled applications. It may also mean that, for now, advanced Internet applications are unable to gain the critical mass of users they need to succeed. "If a large portion of companies are held back from doing Internet development, that will make the Internet less valuable for companies who do move forward," Gormley says.