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The Y2K problem is well laid out in Ed Yardeni's book which is free for the
reading on his homepage:
http://www.yardeni.com/
It is great reading and he keeps it updated. He now predicts that there is a
70% chance of a global recession starting in Janurary 2000, due primarily to
the Y2K problem and lack of attention to it.
http://www.year2000.com/y2karticles.html
is also an informative site on the subject.
Ed Hanley
Bob Fulks wrote:
> At 3:37 PM -0400 7/14/98, BrentinUtahsDixie wrote:
> >
> >Not to over play the Y2K mess but something I read said that because of
> >departmental guidelines and fiscal years, trouble could begin as early as
> >July of this year. The one thing that I don't understand about Y2K is that
> >computers are so much cheaper, more powerful and versatile now. If I were
> >a manager and suspected that I had a bug. I would simply replace those old
> >computers and programing with new. Wouldn't your job be on the line if you
> >had known for years about the problem and didn’t do anything? Something
> >about Y2k just doesn't jive.
>
> The Y2K problem is not primarily with small desktop computers. It is with
> large programs that run on large computers that control everything from air
> traffic control systems to the IRS to power plants and banks. Many of these
> programs were written 20 or 30 years ago and have been modified many time
> since. The programmers who wrote them never imagined that the programs
> would still be in service after so many years so never even considered what
> would happen in 2000.
>
> In addition, there is software (usually called "firmware" because it is
> fixed in a read-only memory) in millions of microprocessors that control
> everything from toasters to VCRs to automobiles. This code cannot be
> changed without changing the microchip which may be soldered into the
> equipment. I have heard that an offshore drilling rig has over 200 such
> processors. No one knows how much of this firmware is Y2K compliant. Some
> of this equipment will just stop working. If it is older equipment, even
> the company who built it may no longer have the original code that they
> built into it so it probably cannot be fixed.
>
> It is all a huge unknown. Could be a minor blip that is gone in a few
> weeks, or could be a disaster.
>
> Bob Fulks
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