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| In the June 1997 issue of Call Sign, Paul Webb
wrote an excellent article titled ‘The Millennium Bomb - Doomsday 2000’.
Recently, Tony Blair has stated that the Government are going to train people to help
overcome the Millennium bug - a bit like closing the gate after the horse has bolted! Tony Blair’s proposed army of new entrants to the IT industry will have to quickly learn an obsolete programming language, one step forward and two steps back. It is also generally agreed that the Y2K problem will have passed after the year 2004 and all those new entrants will be surplus to requirements. Who wants a Year 2000 Consultant or a COBOL programmer after the year 2000? What is the IT industry’s attitude to the Y2K bug? Not very helpful, I’m afraid. Take a look at Hewlett Packard’s web site at: http://www.hp.com/year2000/compliance.html This is their statement: "HP has made every effort to ensure the accuracy of our product testing. However, because each customer's environment is different from HP's laboratory test environment, it is the customer's responsibility to validate the Year 2000 readiness of these products in their own environment. Therefore, information about the Year 2000 status of HP products is provided ‘as is’ without warranties of any kind." A cop out or what? This statement is typical of most hardware and software suppliers, they are basically protecting themselves whilst their legal department are working overtime desperately trying to prepare for the avalanche of claims. But where does that leave the ordinary person in the street who can’t or won’t pay the exorbitant lawyer’s fees? Well, they’ve got two choices, upgrade or buy a new system. If you have a PC and you’re not sure whether it’s Y2K compliant, visit the NSTL web site at: http://www.nstl.com/html/ymark_2000.html This organisation are generally perceived as being the world's leading independent information technology testing organisation. They supply a free utility, YMark200, which tests your PC for Y2K compliance, also for further |
information and for a comprehensive list of
hardware/software suppliers statements concerning Y2K, please visit http://www.year2000.com Is it all hype? Many companies are connected via the Internet or Intranets, Extranets, LANS, WANS, and Satellites, a whole plethora of connections supplying the underlying structure for communications and each one of those connections must be Y2K compliant. Can we honestly say that all the connections emanating from the eastern block or from third world countries is Y2K compliant. BT now emphasises that all suppliers of hardware/software or network services are 100% Y2K compliant, but BT has to supply telephony services to all countries world-wide, are the telephone services in the previously mentioned countries Y2K compliant? I doubt it! If one of those systems crashed, would it cause a ripple effect throughout the world? You’re sitting there saying "He’s talking rubbish again, this won’t affect me", but what about your taximeter, is that Y2K compliant? Have you asked the supplier if their hardware and software is Y2K compliant? What is the PCO’s Y2K strategy, they’re supposed to be progressing into the computer age? Is their renewal licence system Y2K compliant? What about your mobile phone, your video machine, basically anything that could or does use the date. Thankfully, it’s nice to know that Dial a Cab’s telephone system has been tested and is Y2K compliant, but what about their PCs, FAX machines, telephones? The end of the world is nigh! Oh, by the way, just in case the world doesn’t end, why not email callsignmag@aol.com or snail-mail your PC related problems to The Editor, Call Sign Magazine, he’ll pass them onto me and I’ll do my best to solve them. PS. When does TAXI not mean TAXI? When you’re talking about the Digital Broadcast Industry. TAXI means, Transparent Asynchronous Tx/Rx Interface, now didn’t you always want to know that! Vince Chin |
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