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

To: Bill Ounce who wrote (2585)	9/18/1998 11:40:00 AM
From: jwk	Respond to of 9818

Bill -- I think they were talking about correcting the week count on the sending/transmitting side, but that older receiving units might not recognize and accomodate the correction coming from the transmitting side. I don't think they were saying what you have pointed out.... that old receivers would somehow affect upstream operations. As far as how this might affect commerce.....the article mentions maritime usage-- ships moving in and out of ports, avoiding obstacles, etc. I have no knowledge or experience as to how much of a problem this might be. I did, however, get quite an earfull from a brother-in-law who has been moving the nations products over-the-road for the last 30 years. He stopped in this summer on a coast to coast haul. Usually we just BS and carry on a bit when he stops in. This last time, though, he was all business and seriously concerned about y2k impacts on the trucking industry. I don't I have time to go into all he talked about here. But, it was sobering. GPS operation for routing and coordination of just-in-time deliveries was only one piece of his multi-faceted concerns. He was firmly convinced that the trucking industy would have disruptions, the only question was severity and duration. On a human note was the number of owner/operators out there who are literally one bad load from loosing their rigs. The potential for a y2k induced increase in the number of truckers being sent to the wrong location or sitting at the dock, railyard, airport waiting for a misdirected/delayed shipment creates a whole set of cascading problems.... both for those waiting for the shipment, and for the truckers tring to stay ahead of the bank. Human frustration, anger, resentment, and fear feed on just such situations. If you live in a metro area and think road-rage is getting a bit out of hand under current circumstances, factor in potential y2k enhancements and imagine the situation. In that regard I asked him his impression about the amount of weapons & firepower at a typical truckstop on any given day. His response, "You don't even want to know."

To: Bill Ounce who wrote (2585)	9/18/1998 2:50:00 PM
From: B.K.Myers	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 9818

Bill, you stated that "Even if everyone owning the old receivers got lost and died, how would that affect the big-world picture?" While most people look at the GPS issue as a matter of using GPS to locate their position, I don't believe that this is the real problem with the GPS rollover. Most people that use GPS for positioning have back-up systems (Loran, Radar, maps and charts, etc.). I believe that the real hidden problem is that GPS is used to obtain an accurate date and time. For example, banks use GPS to obtain an accurate date and time for allowing access into their bank vaults. Probably the most serious potential problem with the GPS rollover is it's use in the electric power grid and in the telecommunications systems. I do not know what impact the rollover will have, but the simple fact that these two critical infrastructures use GPS for an accurate date and time make this rollover a serious issue. This is a potential problem area that is very difficult to test.