Follow up to a post by John Howard on report from NC Utilities Comm. Yesterday, NC Utilities Comm posted a report after surveying utilities across NC to check on Y2K progress. If you've read it, you know that the report gave the same happy face summary; everybody says they're on track to have Y2K fixed. Now tonight, several local news stations here reported that "authorities" have reported no problems with power, phones, banks, or fuel supply. They actually said that this proved there was no need to worry.

Because of this report, I've already had one of my clients call and tell me he knew there wasn't any reason to worry about all this "computer stuff". It was time for everybody to get back to business as usual. I'm guessing our job of informing here in NC just got a lot harder.

-- Greg Sugg (gregsugg@bbnp.com), September 30, 1998

Answers

Greg,

You said it, bud. The official guys have said everything is basically OK, who are we to contradict them?

One thing I have found, though, is that you can talk to people about Y2K as it affects things which are particular to their experience. I was working on a man's PC yesterday, 74 years old, WW II veteran. At one point I asked him what he thought about all this Y2K stuff, and he replied that he thought that there were enough computer experts working on it, that it would all be OK.

Well a light bulb went off in my head that said "military"; told him about the GAO report that said we couldn't coordinate a Desert Storm type scenario in 2000 unless DOD picks up the remediation pace; Sec. of Defense Cohen's very serious Aug. 7 memo to the military brass about Y2K; things like that. All of a sudden he lit right up. "Really?!?" Before I left, he gave me his e-mail address, and asked me to send him some articles about all this.

Got to meet them where they live. (I did not send him the happy-face Utilities Commission report, BTW.)

-- John Howard (Greenville, NC) (pcdir@prodigy.net), October 01, 1998.

What a GEEK .

-- James A. Jones (jamesjones@bbnp.com), October 03, 1998.