Dire Warnings

I’ve read some sites muttering dire warnings about Y2K. The information in these sites is close to worthless. In the referred page, I saw not one item of vital information, only "trust me - we have a problem" hogwash.

• True, there are a lot of mismanaged companies out there.
• True, big Consulting firms may send out green-beans with only a few weeks of experience.
• True, people may/will panic due to Y2K problems. But these people would panic over anything.
• True, some companies will go bankrupt. With or without the Y2K challenges. (A few more due to the Y2K challenges, but so what.)

The Y2K problem is a reflection of:

1. nearsighted of computer programmers
2. earlier days smaller computers, where each byte of main storage and auxiliary storage was a precious resource
3. unplanned longevity of functioning systems, due partly to
4. primitive systems design and programming techniques, leading to
5. failure rates greater than 70% of all large projects

The first mainframes (which means the large, commercial beasts) had 124 KB (1 KB is roughly 1 thousand characters) of main memory, and 3 removable disks which each held 32 MB (1 MB is roughly 1 million characters) of data. It filled a room, needed water cooling etc. As a comparison, my main PC has 144 MB main memory and a 5500 MB (5.5 GB) disk.

Within banking and finance, the Y2K bug is partially fixed already. Pension funds, life insurance etc. all have to calculate risks and premiums for a number of years into the future. When you apply for a loan for your pole shift survival center, the down payment plan will have to deal with dates and payments after Y2K. If the Y2K challenge turns into any kind of serious problems, it will be either because somebody will be using the Y2K situation for their own purposes (Government bodies, organized crime etc.), or due to problems created by unnecessary panicking (emptying stores etc.) I think it is vital to stay focused on the real challenges ahead. Forget Y2K.

Offered by Jan