Starting next week, many companies will start their monthly billing cycle. These bills will be due in January of 2000. Their computers will break. Also, many companies will be slamming the last brick into place over the next two weeks. They will find out that they still have problems. The point here, in my not at all humble opinion, is, the word is about to get out on the street. You do not want to be on that street when it does. Think about it!

-- FLAME AWAY (blehman202@aol.com), December 03, 1999

Answers

Just got my mortgage statement, due 1-1-00. Late if received after 1- 16-00. Does that mean they are ok?

-- preparing (preparing@home.com), December 03, 1999.

Blehman:

I respect your not-so-humble opinion, but I must disagree for one reason. I'm expecting a "9", but am able to plan for a "5", given one year's notice...

What I expect will happen and what I am able to prepare for are not equal! I have a limited monthly budget, and am preparing for my family--who have less money than me!

I will prepare until I am no longer able to.

-- (Kurt.Borzel@gems8.gov.bc.ca), December 03, 1999.

NY 1, the New York local channel that is exclusively City news is about to do a series on preparing for Y2K.

-- Mara (MaraWayne@aol.com), December 03, 1999.

Dear Flame Away:

There is still time for newbie GIs to prepare. Yes, they can still do it with limited funds. There are at least two weeks to buy more stuff. Don't worry about the future. Do what you can do NOW!

-- dinosaur (dinosaur@williams-net.com), December 03, 1999.

Kurt;

That is exactly what I am saying. I really think "as long as I am able to" time is over. Dino I agree that you can still pack rat away a few $100 worth of basics, but as far as serious 3 months worth of stuff, forget it. Very few could do that now. They would have to have biiiiiiig bucks and probably have to quit their job to have the time to do it. I really do beleive the herd may soon bolt.

-- FLAME AWAY (BLehman202@aol.com), December 03, 1999.

preparing,

Somehow, the fact that they are still only using 2 digits doesn't seem quite right does it? According to this bank, it will be "commonplace."



-- Hawk (flyin@high.again), December 03, 1999.

For better or worse, people on the whole are reactive and not proactive. Most of them (in the US, anyway) are well aware of y2k, and somewhat aware that all the big problems predicted for 1999 never happened. They tend to feel that they can't play the ball *before* it lies, so they'll play it where it lies.

If all hell breaks loose on Jan 1, many of them will be left in the lurch. If we face gradually lowering efficiency, higher prices and unemployment, etc, then there will be time for many of them to react to the problems they actually face, rather than the incredible range of speculative problems we've been trying to cover in our preparations. And whether we're willing to admit it or not, many of our preparations will turn out to be inappropriate. I'm quite sure that I couldn't possibly survive in a world where I need everything I've prepared for. I'm just trying to cover as many bases as I can. This is inefficient and expensive. But possibly critical.

-- Flint (flintc@mindspring.com), December 03, 1999.

Flint

No kidding. That's exactly right. I've over-prepared because I've bought the non-hybrid seeds and books and tools and everything else that I might need if it's worse than I expect. I haven't had time to practice. Either I learn on the fly, if it's that bad, or I wasted it.

OTOH, I'm certainly far better off than those who think this is a hoax.

-- Dog Gone (layinglow@rollover.now), December 03, 1999.

As long as 00 is used for "display" purposes, it's no big deal. The problem is when it's used for "computing" purposes.

Flint,

What's up? You're starting to sound like a doomer? (big grin)

Yes, most people are aware of Y2K. But how many of them look at as close as we do? How many have heard Koskinen's latest comments on embedded systems? How many have read the NIST report? How many have read the recent ComputerWorld story on "close but not ready" (which, you still haven't commented on)? How many know the sad state of small and medium busineses?

Most people read the headlines of the daily paper. They read that NERC had a "successful Y2K test" a few months ago, but we know the real story.

Tick... Tock... <:00=

-- Sysman (y2kboard@yahoo.com), December 04, 1999.

Thge a*holes like BofA (and even a few of you) still don't get it. How much frickin' effort is it to write, input, punch a couple more digits? (Especially, when programming date entry, you can give the operator a default of the first two year digits, which he/she can change if required.)

Well, I'll tell you -- the managers and bean-counters are STILL clueless. BOTTOM LINE, BOTTOM LINE, BOTTOM LINE TODAY. TO HELL WITH TOMORROW. They say, "we can save 30,000 keystrokes per hour by inputting only two digits" (neglecting my comment above), "at 1/1000 cent per keystroke, that means a SAVINGS of 30 cents per hour, $2.40 per day... -- ain't I just too cool?" Or, "Putting just two digits on reports and statments will save $1000 per year on toner and/or ink. Punching just two digits on a credit card will save $5000 in tooling costs; oh am I HOT! YESSS!"

-- A (A@AisA.com), December 04, 1999.

Mara... re Y2K news on NY... did they cover the info covered in Cory's WRP 132?

... I notice in the report about NYC they identified 900 "mission critical" systems in Jan. '99 (or was it '98?), weeded those to 300 because some were not really "M.C.", those were too many, so they DECIDED to focus on 75 systems related to public safety and payments. Then in September they were told to weed them down to 25 systems.

Is it just me, or does this not hint that virtually NOTHING is finished?

-- Linda (lwmb@psln.com), December 04, 1999.