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

To: John Mansfield who wrote (2201)	7/19/1998 3:43:00 PM
From: John Mansfield	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 9818

'Small Firms Too Stretched To Think About Y2K ( 7/15/98; 8:00 PM EST) By Mary Mosquera, TechWeb WASHINGTON, D.C.-- Most small businesses are too busy worrying about meeting next month's payrolls to be concerned with the year 2000 computer glitch, said a senior official of the Small Business Administration Wednesday. The year 2000 problem is the inability of many older computers to distinguish between the 20th and 21st centuries, because many computers store years as two-figure dates rather than four-figure dates to save disk space. The affected computers become confused about time, so they crash or malfunction until they can be reprogrammed. "We can't fix their computers, we can only educate," said Fred Hochberg, the SBA's deputy administrator, to the House Committee on Small Business. The SBA is one of the better-prepared federal agencies, with 90 percent of its critical systems compliant, and testing expected to begin in early 1999. The agency has created public-service announcements, fact sheets, posters, a dedicated website, an toll-free hotline, and joined with trade groups to alert small businesses that the year 2000 bug will affect them. It also offers checklists for businesses with tips on how to get started fixing date-sensitive systems. At the committee's suggestion, Hochberg said he will consider providing sample cost estimates for small businesses to be ready for 2000. Many small businesses do not use computers in their daily operations, so they believe they will be unaffected, he said. But a lack of computers also makes it difficult for those businesses to share in the knowledge available over the Internet about the millennium bug. A lack of financial resources also keeps many small businesses from doing anything about the problem. Small and disadvantaged companies participating in the SBA's 7A and 504 programs can borrow money through those programs, on special financing terms, to fix the problem, Hochberg said. Larry O'Brien Senior Analyst Automation Research Corporation arcweb.com Phone: (781) 461-9100 X126 Fax: (781) 461-9101