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

To: John Mansfield who wrote (1866)	5/17/1998 2:49:00 PM
From: IngotWeTrust	Respond to of 9818

Thx, John, GOT IT! <eom>

To: John Mansfield who wrote (1866)	5/17/1998 4:28:00 PM
From: John Mansfield	Respond to of 9818

[BANKING] Federal Reserve's Plan 'May 15, 1998 Federal Reserve's Plan to Examine Banks for Y2K Compliance may not Delve Deep Enough By Joe Boivin A few weeks ago, Reuters published an article stating that the Federal Reserve will start testing banks for compliance with the Year 2000 Problem on June 29. The Fed's tests are primarily limited to interfaces, the exchange of information between two organizations. This is one of the easiest aspects of computerized banking to fix. In fact, no changes are necessary in the actual format of the data being exchanged if both parties can agree to deal with date formats within their organization. A simple bridge program can take two digit years and make them four digits or the reverse depending on the situation. Most of these types of tests will do little to demonstrate that a bank will survive the Y2K challenge. Banks will need to conduct internal tests on all their mission critical systems as well as their technology platforms. Some of the key components will not be available until late this year; so much of this "final" testing cannot start until 1999. Other than an external audit by trained Year 2000 experts, it may be impossible to determine which banks are OK compared to which banks may fail. The best early warning indicator I have come up with is the "danger signs" document. Without these elements, all large organizations are prone to failure. This is something that can be measured today as compared to waiting a year to discover an individual corporation missed the boat. Telecommunications and hydro are both critical path items for everybody. Without a national focus on these items, it is unlikely we will get more than we already have, which are vague reassurances. I am getting increasingly concerned that we do not have a viable strategy at the country level and with vacations fast approaching, it may be late September before the topic receives the attention it deserves. We need to break through this denial and do it quickly. I encourage all Year 2000 program managers to share their status with the public as fast as possible. Without concrete evidence in the next few weeks, we may well lose the last chance to mobilize the world in time to make a difference. y2ktimebomb.com

To: John Mansfield who wrote (1866)	5/17/1998 4:33:00 PM
From: John Mansfield	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 9818

[REASSURANCE] Well, that is a reassurance! 'Calm down, cyber-worriers -- Y2K glitches will get fixed 'Today I want to try to soothe some of the Y2K hysteria. By now you've heard the media tremors over what will happen on Jan. 1, 2000, when some misguided computers will confuse the date with the year 1900. According to some predictions, banks will fail, airplanes will drop from the sky, the stock market will implode, the power grid will go black, implanted pacemakers will stop ticking. ... 'So the only disasters will come from problems that couldn't be fixed, can't be monitored and can't be lived without. I'm betting that people are rational enough to prevent too many of those. ... 'What should a home computer user do about the problem?' ... l-e-o.com