Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

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

To: John Mansfield who wrote (3939)	2/17/1999 7:56:00 PM
From: Cheeky Kid	Respond to of 9818

Hoax zdnet.com

To: John Mansfield who wrote (3939)	2/17/1999 9:36:00 PM
From: flatsville	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 9818

Ooops--But then again, some of us knew this would happen. Non-HFSA :~O ----------------------------------- The Associated Press 02/17/99 1:57 AM Eastern MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) -- The job of updating Alabama's computers to deal with the arrival of the year 2000 will not be completed by New Year's Day, the state finance director acknowledged. The state has finished 60 to 70 percent of the work needed to make sure its computer systems and equipment won't fail, new Finance Director Henry Mabry said Tuesday in a speech to legislators. "We have the potential to get most of the rest done. But we are not going to be in complete compliance," Mabry warned. He said state officials are trying to pinpoint the problems that must be addressed before Dec. 31, and Gov. Don Siegelman has demanded contingency plans from all state agencies. Mabry, who took over as finance director a month ago, criticized former Gov. Fob James for the lack of preparation for the Year 2000 computer phenomenon. "I think the James administration was not necessarily interested in this particular issue," he said. Alabama has spent about $45 million on the millennium bug problem, Mabry said. All of that money has been squeezed from agencies' existing budgets. He said the state needs to spend another $65 million to address the problem. ================

To: John Mansfield who wrote (3939)	2/17/1999 9:42:00 PM
From: flatsville	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 9818

A couple of critiques of ZDNET: --------------------------------- On Tue, 16 Feb 1999 15:22:26 -0800, tcmay@got.net (Tim May) wrote: >It's one of the most one-sided, sneering, exaggerated articles on Y2K I've seen. > >I'm happy that Somerson is happy that it's all a big "hoax," a plot by the >right-wing survivalist millennialist gun nuts. > >No skin off my nose. And if articles like his help a few million people >become pollyannas, this will be good news. Darwinism should never be >interfered with. Here's my angle on Mr. Somerson's "baloney ball" of a column: Ziff-Davis has gone out of the way recently to build 'buzz' about their online product and their TV show. Both appear to be floundering badly. One trick of online "journalism" (notice the quotes) that's useful in building a following for a news website is to take an absurd position, put out commentary that is sure to be spread around the internet, and then set up an online feedback mechanism for people to call the author an asshole. (Wait a second. This sounds like euy2k.com.) ;-) Whoops - but there's one difference. The whole point of a commercial "news" website is simply to drag people into the website by whatever means necessary so advertisers can get hits and click-throughs on their banner ads. So, a very effective strategy in accomplishing this mission is to stir up controversy. Get the db's in a froth. Draw in the WebTeeVee and AOL crowd. Enraged people are more motivated to go to a particular website that does not support their own personal point of view. Enraged people will make use of the "feedback mechanism" to vent their opinions in rants and flames. And from a marketing perspective, the neat thing is: those enraged people will go back multiple times to see if their rage has been validated by someone else! So, again, an advertiser gets potential multiple hits from one incensed reader. It's a no-lose proposition for the advertisers and owner of the website!! Ain't cyberspace a wonderful place? Darwinism in action, indeed. -- Rick Cowles (Public PGP key on request) www.euy2k.com : Electric Utilities and Y2k Toll Free 1-877-503-2323 "ZAPPED" : A Household Video Primer for Dealing with Long Power Outages --------------------------------- I feel so "used."