Klarinet Archive - Posting 001080.txt from 1998/03

From: "John F. Clark" <jclark@-----.edu>
Subj: Year 2000
Date: Fri, 20 Mar 1998 13:19:11 -0500

Hello, folks -- I'm emerging from my usual lurking spot to add a bit to the
Year 2000 info. I apologize since this is off-topic, but I really believe
that it's beneficial to spread the word through every available channel.

Aside from the information on computers you've seen posted on this list,
which is bad enough, there are many of us who are coming to realize that
one of the biggest problems we face comes from the potential failure of
every device with a chip in it. Here at the University of Kentucky, 16,000
such devices have been identified in the Med Center alone, such as heart
monitors, ventilators, IV drip controllers, etc., but the problem also
extends to more mundane items like camcorders, VCRs, video edit
controllers, metronomes (see -- this is a music-related post) answering
machines, fax machines, copiers, vending machines, phone key systems, alarm
systems, computer-controlled valves for water, heating and sewage systems,
microprocessors in University vehicles, and on and on. You get the
picture.

However, all these devices (outside of the Med Center) may fail without
significant loss of life. The same may not be true for various
transportation systems. KLM has become the first major airline to announce
that it is suspending flights on the last day of 1999 and the first day of
2000, and others will undoubtedly follow. They are not as worried about
their computer systems (which can be fixed) as they are about the numerous
chips that are part of the electronics of their planes. The problem is
that no one knows which devices will simply lose some of their
functionality and which will fail altogether. You may believe that your
chip-driven device could not possibly have a date function, but it could be
the case (as it is with the chips in cars) that technicians rely on the
chips to give them the date the device was last serviced or checked -- thus
they do have a date function.

Lest you be inclined to regard it all as a tempest in a teapot, there is
evidence of some concern. The first Y2K lawsuit was filed last year. It
concerns the complete failure of a retail point-of-sale system when faced
with scanning credit cards with year 2000 expiration dates. Y2K lawsuits
are expected to top one trillion dollars. The National Banking Association
has declared a bank holiday for December 31, 1999, and is lobbying the
federal government to be allowed to close banks the first few days of 2000.
And to add more fuel to the fire of your concern over your respective
governments' preparations, I append this item from yesterday's New York
Times, at which point this (lengthy) post will be over.

CROSSING THAT BRIDGE TO THE YEAR 2000 PROBLEM
With $4.7 billion budgeted this year and next for solving the "Year 2000"
problem (when many computers will be unable to distinguish in which century
they are crunching numbers), the current progress report from federal
agencies is: only 35% of computer software systems critical for agencies to
perform their missions have been checked and fixed, with 3,500 critical
systems remaining in need of attention. In testimony before two
subcommittees of Congress, an official of the General Accounting Office
summed up the situation by saying: "It is unlikely that agencies can
complete this vast amount of work in time." No one knows the full scope of
the problem, because it is not possible to identify which systems are in
fact critical: a seemingly minor system will be critical if major systems
will not run without it. (New York Times 19 Mar 98)

John F. Clark jclark@-----.edu
College Technology Coordinator
College of Communications and Information Studies
121 Grehan Building
University of Kentucky
Lexington, KY 40506-0042
PH: (606)257-2810 FAX: (606)257-7818