I've been wondering just what we might expect to see when the FISCAL YEAR turns over to 2000 for earlybirds like the state of New York and the country of Japan.

Is anyone able to tell me of the kinds of computer systems and activities that are expected to show glitches or breakdown? Is it the same as for the CALENDAR year change we will see on Jan. 1, 2000?

I realize that no one knows anything with certainty, however, how will this changeover be unique from the calendar year change in 2000?

-- Sara Nealy (keithn@ptd.net), September 26, 1998

Answers

Sara,

The fiscal year for New York, Japan and last but certainly not least Canada, starts April 1st. Please do not assume for one second that as a Canadian, your omission of our country from your list will result in a sneak attack on North Dakota or our snowbirds in Florida painting graffiti on the back walls of your Denny's restaurants. Also, be aware that a submarine attack may be coming. Unfortunately all three of our subs are in use at West Edmonton Mall at the moment but by golly, if we ever get them out of there.......

Okay.......the types of programs that will be affected are those that "look ahead" to the end of the fiscal year in order to compute year end totals. Accounting and financial programs fit into this category. Anything that has a fiscal year total is suspect.

Without being too technical, here's what happens. A store selling widgets has a fiscal year April 1, 1999 to March 31st, 2000. It sells one widget on April 1st. Revenue for the widget is $5.00. The accounting program adds $5.00 to the sales for April 1st, but also adds $5.00 to the Yearly sales total. Unfortunately, the computer thinks the date for the year end totals is "00" which it may interpret as 0000 or default to 1980 and crash. Even worse, it may calculate based on the faulty logic or pass along the buggered up projected sales total to the companies head office in Walla Walla or wherever.

When this effect is multiplied potentially millions of times in different companies and government agencies, it will be a problem. I don't see it as a show stopper, but rather as a foreboding sign of more serious things to come. It's kind of like in a movie that's halfway through. The heroine hasn't been slashed to death yet, but she opens a closet and a dead body falls out and scares her half to death. The audience screams, because even though the heroine is still okay, it 's now apparent that there is a madman on the loose. I think that the timing of it will coincide with ever increasing public awareness resulting in bank runs starting around June/July 1999. The feds will likely step in with laws restricting the amount of cash you can withdraw from the banks etc. and perhaps similiar types of restrictions in selling off stocks.

Hope that helps a bit. P.S. Don't tell Clinton that us Canucks are invading. It's kind of a secret and I wasn't supposed to say anything, particularly on the internet.

-- Craig (craig@ccinet.ab.ca), September 26, 1998.

I live in FL, I know all about your invasion plans,for many years I have witnessed the practice runs that you Canucks do each fall.

-- Uncle Deedah (oncebitten@twiceshy.com), September 26, 1998.

To Uncle Deedah, My father invaded the states back in 78..ops that was 1878 got to get the date correct..all four digets...I am a Damn Yankee, (came to Fl and stayed) back in 79// this century...Live in Ft. Myers...are we sort of close? Thanks..

-- Walter Blais (Waltndot@aol.com), September 26, 1998.

A madman on the loose? What a visual. You Canucks are too much.

-- Amy Leone (aleone@amp.com), September 26, 1998.

And when quarterly reports and projections are screwed up by the same type of problem with the "yearly" sales and "projected" profits in the stock reports, those same companies are going to be hammered again in the 1999 stock markets.

Don't look up, the Canadian geese flying south in fall 1999 might be armed with more than poop.....

-- Robert A. Cook, P.E. (Kennesaw, GA) (cook.r@csaatl.com), September 28, 1998.

Actually, I believe the poop from our geese is among the heaviest firepower our military has. Rather a sad assessment on the size of our military. However, we are known as great "peacekeepers" so you better hope those dang North Dakotans don't keep on blocking our exports at the border, or by golly we'll have to pscho-analyze them to death.

We do suffer from a brain drain though. Our taxation rates here are scary and disgraceful and getting worse. It is normal for someone making $60,000 a year (equiv to $40,000 US) to lose 40 to 50% of it in deductions not to mention all the other taxes that come off the already taxed dollar we have in our wallets. It seems to me the last figures I saw showed that in total we pay 72% of our income in some form of taxes or another.

So many of our best and brightest have become fed up and moved south in recent years and the trend will continue.

Our government is so addicted to receiving massive amounts of taxation that anything more than minor Y2K problems will cause a major crisis.

-- Craig (craig@ccinet.ab.ca), September 28, 1998.

Craig

I have two members of your pre-invasion reconnaissance team living next door to me. They are also quite adept at the "oy, such taxes" routine, they have been well trained.

Walter

Yes, sort of. Why pick Ft. Myers, the Hades of FL? Oy, such heat.

-- Uncle Deedah (oncebitten@twiceshy.com), September 28, 1998.