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Technology Stocks : Y2K (Year 2000) Stocks: An Investment Discussion -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: sibe who wrote (11610)	5/17/1998 4:11:00 PM
From: John Mansfield	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 13949

[G8] Sibe, Look at the 'impact thread'. Some posts over there: birmingham.g8summit.gov.uk

To: sibe who wrote (11610)	5/17/1998 8:45:00 PM
From: SOROS	Respond to of 13949

G8 urged to act to avoid millennium computer chaos LONDON, May 15 (Reuters) - Leaders at the G8 summit this weekend will discuss how to combat possible fallout from the millennium computer bomb, and industry experts said on Friday action is crucial if disaster is to be avoided. World industry is now so reliant on computers that a rash of failures could cause economic disruption. Some experts say this could tip the world into recession or worse. Millions of people dependent on state pensions, unemployment payments and welfare could quickly find themselves without funds if government computerised payment systems break down. Public utilities providing power and water supplies are said to be at risk if computers across the world crash at midnight on December 31, 1999. "We say there will be potentially significant economic disruption, and if we are right, governments have to prepare contingency plans," Geoff Unwin, vice-chairman of French information technology and consulting group Cap Gemini SA told Reuters. Computers are exposed to a problem that sounds almost too trivial to be true. In the 1970s and 1980s, computer programmers saved what was then valuable space abbreviating years to two digits - like 97 or 85 - knowing that this would cause mayhem in 2000. Computers would be unable to make sense of a four digit number and would crash or start pumping out erroneous data. But because of the fast moving nature of information technology, there was a widely held belief that this problem would be addressed many years before 2000 dawned. This assumption was false, and companies and governments around the world are scurrying to fix the problem. Governments have been slower than industry to address problems with their own computers. "Lots of governments talk about awareness, but the money they are spending on their own IT systems is not nearly enough. Britain is spending 100 million (pounds) on bug busters, but 700 million on the millennium dome. What are they taking more seriously," said Nick Jones, analyst with U.S. high technology consultancy Gartner Group. The millennium dome is a huge, temporary structure being built on the banks of the River Thames in London to celebrate the turn of the century. But Britain is considered by experts to be second only to the U.S. in preparedness for computer bomb problems. Japan and Germany are said to be laggards. Simon Reeve, author of the book, "The Millennium Bomb" has a more extreme view. "Unless the G8 governments mobilise their work forces as if for war, the dawn of the new millennium will herald an immediate breakdown in global telecommunications and massive problems for the Internet. Then we will see the cumulative effects of business failures gradually taking their toll on the global economy," Reeve said. Edward Yardeni, chief economist at merchant bankers Deutsche Morgan Grenfell, calls for more than just words from the assembled G8 statesmen. In a recent article in the Wall Street Journal Yardeni said there was a 60 percent chance of a recession because of the computer bomb, with the possibility of a depression. Yardeni called for the formation of a Year 2000 Alliance with funding of $100 billion. Cap Gemini's Unwin believes that as well as general economic disruption, the most vulnerable are at high risk. "The world is heading for a dangerous place unless action starts to happen. The sick, pensioners, the unemployed what can they do if they can't physically be paid," Unwin said. I remain, SOROS ps thanks Murray

To: sibe who wrote (11610)	5/17/1998 8:55:00 PM
From: SOROS	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 13949

G8 to take urgent action on Millennium computer bug 11:57:02, 17 May 1998 By Paul Casciato BIRMINGHAM, England, May 17 (Reuters) - Leaders of the Group of Eight (G8) countries said on Sunday they had agreed to take urgent action to combat the possible fallout from the millennium computer bomb. The eight world leaders said in a final communique from this weekend's G8 Summit they will work with business to prevent the danger of computer failures to defence, telecommunications, financial and other systems at the turn of the century. "We agreed to take further urgent action and to share information among ourselves and with others, that will assist in preventing disruption in the near and longer term," the communique said. World industry is now so reliant on computers that a rash of failures could cause economic disruption. Some experts say this could tip the world into recession or worse. But the leaders of the U.S. Britain, Germany, Japan, France, Italy, Canada and Russia said businesses in those sectors which could be affected by the bug will have to shoulder the responsibility of protecting themselves. "We shall work closely with business and organisations working in those sectors, who will bear much of the responsibility to address the problem," the communique said. British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who played host to the world leaders for the two-day summit, said his nation committed some 10 million pounds ($16.24 million) to the World Bank Trust Fund and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) to help international institutions combat the bug. He said the G8 were all at different stages of preparation for the millennium computer problem and that as chairman of the G8, Britain has agreed to hold a meeting of experts on the issue in Moscow. "We agreed...to hold a meeting of the G8 experts and do that in Moscow where (Russian) President made a particularly strong plea as to the importance of action on the millennium bug in his country and indeed around the world," Blair told reporters after the final G8 meeting. Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien said the computer bug problem was visited twice by the world leaders at the meeting in England's second city. "We came back to that twice. Once in relation to international crime using computers and we came back this morning to make sure that we will all be together on the first of January 2000," Chretien told reporters. The G8 communique said the world's most powerful leaders had also agreed to implement rapidly an action plan on high tech crime put forward at the G8 foreign and G7 finance ministers meeting held last weekend in London. Chretien said the leaders recognised that heading off the so-called "millennium bug" will be an expensive prospect, but that it was necessary to avoid disaster. "Otherwise it could jeopardise trade and communications around the world," he said. Computers are exposed to a problem that sounds almost too trivial to be true. In the 1970s and 1980s, computer programmers saved what was then valuable space abbreviating years to two digits - like 97 or 85 - knowing that this would cause mayhem in the year 2000. Computers would be unable to make sense of a four digit number and would crash or start pumping out erroneous data. But because of the torrid pace of the growth in technology it was widely assumed that the problem would be addressed many years before the year 2000 dawned. This assumption has proved false and companies and governments around the world are scrambling to fix the problem. If widespread computer breakdown were to occur millions of people dependent on state funds could find themselves without money and public utilities could leave whole populations stranded without water or power. In a recent article in the Wall Street Journal, chief economist at merchant bankers Deutsche Morgan Grenfell, Edward Yardeni, said there was a 60 percent chance of a recession because of the computer bomb, with the possibility of a depression.