Gary North has posted a generic (no company name) version of a letter of mine, without comment, which I originally posted on this forum. For those who may have missed it the first time around, you can check it out at http://www.garynorth.com/y2k/detail_.cfm/2707.

It is an account of my experience working as a Y2K tester, and it should be an eye-opener to those of you who are unaware of the complexities inherant in the Y2K testing environment.

-- Steve Hartsman (hartsman@ticon.net), September 29, 1998

Answers

Steve, your letter and Y2K experiences was very interesting to me and I think many more people will read it now that it is on Gary North's site. That's good for researchers like me and perhaps for you. Suggestion - Send some more first-hand programming insights directly to GN, you should get a portion of the rewards that GN gets ??? and we get more info to help make better decisions. I do admire you for taking the time, effort and courage to publish your thoughts.

-- George (newsrc@txcyber.com), September 29, 1998.

Actually, Steve, why don't you put a dollar in an envelope and send it to Gary? I think I'll do that right now myself. I've gotten a hell of a lot more that $100 of value from his site, and that's all he asks for.

-- pshannon (pshannon@inch.com), September 29, 1998.

Steve! You're famous! Uh...well...sort of. They forgot to put your name in there. I remember that post. It was on September 3rd and the thread was titled "Here's one (lengthy) account of why testing takes so long." I know, you're probably thinking what a great memory I have? Actually, if anyone wants to read the original version, scan down below all of the current questions to the archived threads. Look under the category: IT/Computer Industry. Hey Steve, does Gary North read this forum? :-)

-- Gayla Dunbar (privacy@please.com), September 29, 1998.

Gayla:

I submitted my letter to Gary North. He responded to me thusly:

"This is as clear a description of the real-world prtoblems as I have seen.

Think of Citicorp (400m lines), plus (now) Travellers Insurance. Oh, my!

But most programmers still think they can do it. Thar's what de Jager's forum thinks.

I wish you well. Buy a small property in the sticks. And remember: this is the last guaranteed year for buying winter clothing & products."

He would not print the original letter in its entirety due to the potential liability, so I resubmitted a sanitized version.

While I was initially a bit peeved for not being given credit for writing the letter (thus destroying any delusions of getting my 15 minutes of fame), perhaps it is for the best, as I could also do without any lawsuits as well. Although I wrote nothing that was untrue, I wouldn't want to represent myself against corporate lawyers, and I can't afford an attorney...

-- Steve Hartsman (hartsman@ticon.net), October 03, 1998.