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

To: John Mansfield who wrote (1930)	5/30/1998 3:06:00 AM
From: John Mansfield	Respond to of 9818

LOL .... As recently as a year ago, both the IRS and DOD was offering buyouts to computer programmers. So yes, their problems aren't computer problems either but a result of a overzealous reduction in force... farce. I have a pal who used to be a Fed, a GS-15 programmer with the DOD. He got a $25,000 incentive to retire in the fall of 1997. He is one happy ex-Fed-Geek. He took his fistful of hundred dollar bills, got himself a nice big-bucks Y2K programming job 5 minutes from his home, and laughs every day, "Cory, they paid me to get rid of me." Tears roll down his cheeks. "A-ha, I'm a useless old has-been S/370 assembly language programmer who knows both VM/CMS and MVS internals. Oh me, no more commuting an hour and a half to the district in a 12 year old Toyota for me, cloud of blue smoke; listen to me start up my Lexus." .... ___ Subject: Re: Lions and Tigers and Railroad Switchyards, Oh My! Date: 30 May 1998 00:01:13 GMT From: kiyoinc@ibm.XOUT.net (cory hamasaki) Organization: HHResearch Co. Newsgroups: comp.software.year-2000 References: 1 , 2 , 3 , 4

To: John Mansfield who wrote (1930)	5/30/1998 4:09:00 PM
From: John Mansfield	Respond to of 9818

[YOURDON] '"Time Bomb 2000: What the Year 2000 Computer Crisis Means to You" April 20, 1998 Grim look at 2000 'time bomb' and its aftermath "Time Bomb 2000: What the Year 2000 Computer Crisis Means to You" By Edware Yourdon and Jennifer Yourdon Prentice Hall Paperback, $19.95; 197 pages Computer consultant Ed Yourdon lies awake nights thinking about the New Year's Eve of 2000, but he isn't planning his millennial bash. Instead, he's worrying about what might be the biggest crash in the history of computers. Yourdon is a specialist in something called the Y2K computer crisis, and the co-author (with his daughter) of a book called "Time Bomb 2000." Y2K is computer lingo for the year 2000 problem, which stems from the fact that most computer software cannot properly differentiate between the year 1900 and the year 2000, and is therefore likely to crash when it is asked to begin processing year 2000 dates. You don't own a computer, you say? Well, your telephone company sure does. So does your bank, your electric utility, your local supermarket, your favorite airline, your credit card company, your Social Security office, the Internal Revenue Service and your employer. According to Yourdon, fixing the year 2000 problem is so massive it can't possibly all get done in time to head off a crisis in cyberspace that will affect everyone. It is no longer a question of whether the date glitches in the computer code will bring chunks of the ordinary machinery of life to a dead halt. That, he says, is already a given. The question now is how much and for how long. Although it may not upset you greatly to hear that the Transportation Department may not finish its year 2000 corrections before 2020, or that the IRS' Y2K project is in major crisis, you might be alarmed by a shutdown of the Social Security System or failures in the Federal Aviation Administration's radar control systems. And, by most accounts, state and local governments are in even worse shape than the federal government. Of equal concern to Yourdon and other Y2K experts is the problem of "embedded systems." That refers to the literally billions of microchips that help keep the machinery of our lives running -- VCRs, elevators, commercial heating and air conditioning systems, automobiles and even street lights. Almost nothing these days runs without microchips. "Time Bomb 2000" examines the consequences of the collapse of the major delivery systems of our lives: government, transportation, utilities, medicine, banking and food. And the authors conclude that most people could handle a day or a week of crisis, but few are capable of coping with a month or a year of bank holidays or hospital shutdowns, or widespread job layoffs. So, how big is the problem likely to be? Nobody knows, and nobody will know until midnight of New Year's Eve when the year "goes live." But here -- taken from a recent Internet posting -- is what Ed Yourdon thinks: "If Y2K does turn out to be as bad as I think it will be, everyone is going to be concentrating on how to get food, shelter, clothing and the basic necessities of life. "Y2K threatens all of this, except in the backwards economies that have never depended on automation. Rural China will probably be OK; but in my humble opinion, New York, Chicago, Atlanta and a dozen other cities are going to resemble Beirut in January 2000. That's why I've moved out of NYC to rural New Mexico a couple months ago." You may not welcome the apocalyptic tone of "Time Bomb 2000." But you can't say you haven't been warned. cgi.amcity.com

To: John Mansfield who wrote (1930)	5/30/1998 4:30:00 PM
From: John Mansfield	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 9818

" Y2K planning is now at a critical phase, one that requires the input of every department. To do this, each department has appointed a Y2K representative. These individuals will work with the Y2K Steering Team to identify and correct potential trouble areas that could have an adverse affect on NS operations." So, Norfolk Southern is "planning" and trying to hire 41 programmers -- good grief. nscorp.com [Snip] This article appeared in the January/February 1998 issue of Thoroughbred Paces, Norfolk Southern's employee magazine. Y2K: Waging war against the millennium bug Another calendar year has come and gone. A new millennium is on the horizon. As the year 2000 draws ever closer, people around the globe are holding their breath. Because for Norfolk Southern, and for the world, the clock is ticking on a problem of epic proportions: ensuring that all computer systems are able to read, calculate and store the year 2000 and beyond. Simply stated, the year 2000 (Y2K) problem arises when the year portion of a date is stored in various types of computers in two positions rather than four. For example, the year 1998 is stored in most computer systems and applications as "98." When 2000 arrives, however, the year becomes "00." The results can be some very unexpected - and some very erroneous - date manipulations. For the past three years, NS' Information Technology department has been preparing for the millennium. The effort began with the organization of a team to address the production computer applications that run on the mainframe. This team was established under Dwayne Miller, director-IT Support Services, Atlanta. Led by Roger Brumfield, designer, Atlanta, the team has successfully made 87 percent of these applications year-2000 compliant. To coordinate NS' planning efforts, a Y2K Steering Team has been established under Linda Wilson, director-IT Business Services, Atlanta. Their goal is to develop guidelines, provide information and perform a facilitation role to each of the departments. As departments begin to determine their areas of risk and develop strategies for handling Y2K issues, the steering team members will be there to help. Members of the steering team are Ranny Grubb, manager-Customer Integration Services, Danielle Brenner, EDP auditor, and Bonnie Pulliam, designer, all in Roanoke. Y2K planning is now at a critical phase, one that requires the input of every department. To do this, each department has appointed a Y2K representative. These individuals will work with the Y2K Steering Team to identify and correct potential trouble areas that could have an adverse affect on NS operations. For example, the Transportation department must ensure that NS' locomotives remain operational; the Engineering department has to make sure the phone systems continue to function; Properties has to ensure that the heating and cooling systems operate correctly, and the NS Police must be certain all the security systems remain functioning. Do you have questions? Customers may contact Dwayne Miller, director, Information Technology Support Services, in Atlanta at (404) 527-2632, email DRMILLER@nscorp.com nscorp.com [snip] NORFOLK SOUTHERN Currently Available Positions Human Resources Norfolk, VA Employment Officer Information Technology Atlanta, GA AIX/WAN-LAN Performance Analyst Client/Server Development CICS Systems Programmer Data Warehouse Analyst DB2/CICS developer - EPAS Rate Application DB2/CICS developer - EPAS Rate Application DB2/CICS developer - IRF's development team DB2/CICS developer - IRF's development team DB2/CICS developer - ISS development - c/s DB2/CICS developer - ISS development team DB2/CICS developer - ITMS Development Team DB2/CICS team leader - ITMS Development Team EDP Systems Auditor IDMS and DB2 Developer IDMS and DB2 developer- Master File Integration IDMS Developer IDMS developer- Accounting/Revenue Systems support IDMS developer, DB2 preferred - EDI/Hazmat team MVS/ESA Systems Programmer PC/LAN Support Atlanta Performance Analyst Programmers Resource Requirements - Tandem developer SIMS Development Team Systems Analyst/PC Trainer Tandem Programmer TYES/CYO Development Team Norfolk, VA System Integration Specialist Roanoke, VA DB2/CICS Programmer/Analyst - Expenditure Accounting HRIS / GTN / TesserAct Developer IDMS/ADSO Developer IDMS/ADSO Programmer/Analyst IDMS/ADSO Developer IDMS/ADSO developer-Non T&E Payroll IDMS/ADSO developer - Payroll T&E IDMS/ADSO developer - T&E Payroll IDMS/ADSO Programmer/Analyst System Integration Specialist Systems Analyst Web Applications Developer Intermodal Norfolk, VA Assistant Manager SIMS Development [end snip] ___ Subject: - RR - Norfolk Southern and Y2K Date: 30 May 1998 11:04:01 EDT From: "Harlan Smith" <hwsmith.nowhere@cris.com> Organization: Paperless Newsgroups: comp.software.year-2000