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: Cheeky Kid who wrote (4497)	3/11/1999 12:59:00 PM
From: flatsville	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 9818

You can respect them all you want...I'm hardly surprised that you do given that their response to the very serious problem of a global economic slowdown was to repeat a stupid joke. The balance of the article is similarly trite much like the people who wrote it (and those who admire them?) I'm certain. --------------------------------- <snip> >>>>>Economic Shutdown? There are a certain number of survivalists who think that the modern economy has become so complex and so reliant on technology, that the Y2K problem will be far worse than any earthquake or hurricane. They fear a supply chain only as strong as its weakest link. "I've always known that the economy is complex and that we live on the end of a long chain of ships, planes, and 18-wheelers," one such survivalist told Wired Magazine. Consider some recent examples of how small events cause big consequences. General Motors has learned that the closure of just a few key facilities can cause the almost total shutdown of their manufacturing operations. The failure of one communications satellite caused a massive disruption in pager networks, some broadcast news operations, and credit card verification systems. And complications caused by the merger of two railroads snarled train traffic in the Southwest for months. Now multiply these events ten or twenty-fold, mix in disruptions in utilities, have them all happen at once, and one can see why some people are stockpiling food in the basement. (While it may be easy to write off the survivalists as kooks, it is somewhat disconcerting to see that a number of them are programmers with lots of Y2K experience.) To dispel some of the doom and gloom that accompanies this topic, it may be appropriate to end with a story that has been circulating around the Internet: A COBOL programmer had been putting in tremendous hours working to solve the Y2K problem. The combination of long hours and the stress of listening to all the doomsday talk caused a major anxiety attack. He went to a cryogenics company, and arranged to have himself frozen for a year, in an expensive and totally automated process. His last thoughts as he fell asleep were that, when he woke up, he was sure the problems would be solved. The next thing he knew, he was in a very modern room filled with excited people and equipment right out of a Star Trek episode. They were amazed he was still alive. The cryogenics company he picked, they explained, was not Year 2000 compliant, and there had been a problem. Instead of being asleep a year, he had been asleep almost eight thousand years. One of the technicians came forward with a viewing screen and said that the Prime Minister of Earth wished to speak to him. The Prime Minister told the programmer not to be afraid, he was waking in a far better world. There was world peace and no more hunger. Disease had been eradicated, and space travel a reality. "That's terrific," said the programmer, "but why are you so interested in me?" The Prime Minister, who looked very much like Bill Gates, replied "Well, your files say that you know COBOL, and we've got this thing called the Year 10,000 bug….."<<<<