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

To: C.K. Houston who wrote (2327)	7/31/1998 2:11:00 PM
From: C.K. Houston	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 9818

TODAY'S Y2K COMPUTER PROBLEM SUBCOMMITTEE HEARING <The Admin is bringing significant pressure to bear on certain industry sectors, which have embedded systems "challenges." It is getting downright ugly in some of these meetings-cum-confrontations.> KEN SALAETS LOL - "Challenges" was sure used a lot in this AM's hearing. I like what Senator Dodd is doing. Last week when he heard a witness testify that 233 medical device manufacturers have repeatedly not responded to FDA, VA, hospital and clinic requests for info - he asked for list and said if responses weren't forthcoming ... actual names of the companies would be made public by the committee. In one week, list went from 233 down to 99. Of course, specific info wasn't provided ... but at least they did send "We'll get back to you" letters. Today he threatened to do the same with telecoms which have not responded to April request for information. Asked to have the actual list of company names, and threatened to make names public if information is not forthcoming within the next 2 weeks. LOL Of 50+ emergency service telecom carriers ... only 1 responded! Cheryl _____________________________________________________________________ RESPONSE FROM KEN: <I wish I could find it amusing too (no offense), but it is clearly evident that some Members of the House and Senate do not fully appreciate the legal environment within which these companies are trying to work. Industry is fully engaged in an effort to enlighten all who are willing to listen. August will be a rather telling month.> _____________________________________________________________________ No offense taken. I don't think any of this is funny. I think it's a sad state of affairs when it takes the threat of a public "outing" to get these companies to respond. Cheryl

To: C.K. Houston who wrote (2327)	7/31/1998 4:45:00 PM
From: John Mansfield	Respond to of 9818

'From: Arnold Trembley <arnold.trembley@worldnet.att.net> 9:30 Subject: Re: DC Y2K WRP (SIA Testing) cory hamasaki wrote: > > Cory Hamasaki's DC Y2K Weather Report V2, # 31 > "July 30, 1998 - 529 days to go." WRP87 > > The SIA Street test was a failure, the news blackout is the first > clue... the whispers from insiders in NY is the second, ...check back > through the old DC Y2K WRPs, the superprogrammer's grapevine hasn't > missed yet. Read Dilbert, geek to geek, speak in the code of the geeks, > what's really going on? The NYSE is about to take a hit in the machine > check handler and HIR will be UNsuccessful. The message is, "HIR > FAILED, SYSTEM ENTERING WAIT STATE." > > cory hamasaki 519 days now... > Let me play "semi-pollyanna" here. If you go to: sia.com you will find this quote: Beta Test Report 07/28/98 SIA Beta Test Concludes On Friday, July 24, the test of mutual funds ended and on Monday, July 27, 1998, the test of options ended. SIA Beta Test firms have also completed a four-day simulated trading and settlement cycle for equities, municipal bonds, corporate bonds and unit investment trusts for the dates December 29, 1999, December 30, 1999, December 31, 1999, and January 03, 2000. No Year 2000 related problems were reported as trades with Year 2000 trade and settlement dates were processed by their systems. Preliminary feedback indicates that the industry's infrastructure functioned normally throughout the test. As expected, there were issues regarding computers not recognizing valid test symbols and line connections. The issues were the anticipated results of the requirement that firms use separate systems to process the test. Detailed testing results, which are being submitted to SIA via the Internet, are being evaluated by SIA and PricewaterhouseCoopers, which has been retained by SIA to manage the testing process. Aggregate results of the beta test are scheduled to be released on August 10. (end of quote) Cory, I'm sure you're telling the truth, that supergeeks are whispering the test was a failure and the SIA is covering up. But if the SIA is lying on their web page eventually it will become obvious. I don't believe they would risk their careers and fortunes by falsifying their statements. Of course, I could be wrong in my interpretation. But I took it to mean they did a beta test of their time machine, and had some setup problems (which I would expect them to have). I hope they will publish more detailed information on August 10. They have committed to supporting higher volume testing with more participants, starting 1999-01-01. It takes time to build the test environment. If it's a phony effort they will not be able to keep it a secret, but I think it's real and basically good news. It's still very difficult for most organizations to be open, honest, and direct about what they are actually doing to prepare for the year 2000. -- Arnold Trembley home.att.net Software Engineer I (just a job title, still a programmer) MasterCard International "Y2K? Because Centuries Happen!"

To: C.K. Houston who wrote (2327)	7/31/1998 8:10:00 PM
From: scott ross	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 9818

Cheryl, laugh all you want. I know some of these systems. I wrote the code, maintained the code, debugged the code. You think the CIO of GM worked on this stuff? Somehow, I doubt it. He's taking the right approach, however, by suspecting _everything_. And the guys/gals who run the factory floor are clever, resourceful SOBs who can work through just about any situation. Personally, I worry a hell of a lot more about the IRS than any manufacturing environment. BTW, I also know some of the CNC firmware. In the assessment, the only '00 issue is the dates on files written to floppy. Nada. Regarding telecomm hearings, read the article. I did. The salient quote is: 'She said research by her company has found that few year 2000 problems exist in the basic call processing or data routing of most phone companies. But she said the problem is found in their operations, administration and maintenance networks. So, List said, "While this suggests that getting basic dial tone at midnight on Jan. 1, 2000, is less likely to be a problem, it is possible, in my opinion, that there may be disruptions in billing, processing service orders and so on."'