Ed- Thank you! I thought New Mexico was flat-I don't know why-but it is beuatiful!! I also wanted to say that your essay on "How Bad Do You Think It's Gonna Be", was very good. I geuss I never really thought about things like how optimistic they (gurus) might be feeling one day when a microphone was shoved in their face. There were a lot of good points in the essay. Thanks. Good luck next week with Koskinen-maybey you could sell him a peice of property in N.M.!!!

-- madeline (runner@bcpl.net), December 08, 1998

Answers

Response to Ed Yourden

Sorry, folks, but there appears to be a misunderstanding. I don't have any interviews or one-on-one discussions scheduled with Mr. Koskinen. However, I've been invited (along with a number of other familiar people in the Y2K community) to attend a United Nations conference on Friday (Dec. 11) as an observer/guest. The conference was coordinated by Mr. Koskinen and Ahmad Kamal, the permanent ambassador from Pakistan and Chairman of the Informatics Working Group of the UN. I've been told that delegates from 110 countries have indicated they will attend. It should be very interesting, and I'll post info about the outcome and results as soon as I can.

-- Ed Yourdon (ed@yourdon.com), December 08, 1998.

Thanks for the suggestion to join together for a couple of beers, etc. Unfortunately, I won't be able to make it. There's a UN reception on both Thursday evening and Friday evening, and I think it's important for me to be there. I don't know if the UN will provide enough cocktail shrimp and hors d'oeuvres (sp?) to substitute for dinner, but this may be the only chance I'll ever have to meet face-to-face with delegates from various countries to see what's going on with their Y2K efforts.

An interesting tidbit from a recent interview with John Koskinen illustrates the issue of global interdependence. He pointed out that 40% of Germany's power comes from Russia. And we know from other sources that Russia's official national Y2K budget is zero. Zip. Nada. Further, the Russian Minister of Atomic Energy was publicly quoted on C/Net back in June as saying that they had no plans to do any Y2K work on the nuclear power systems -- they would simply wait until 2000 to see whether they have any problems.

I don't think I would be very comfortable about this if I lived in Germany ... so I'm hoping that I'll meet a few German delegates at the conference to see if I can confirm any of this...

Will report on the events as soon as I can. Meanwhile, party on without me!

Ed

-- Ed Yourdon (ed@yourdon.com), December 10, 1998.

Response to Ed Yourden

"Next week" ?

If the "great one" has an interview coming up with the "Koskinen"....

We need to recommend some direct questions to ask Clinton.

-- Robert A. Cook, P.E. (Kennesaw, GA) (cook.r@csaatl.com), December 08, 1998.

Response to Ed Yourden

Yes, we do, what with ol' slicky being so forthright an all....

:(

-- Uncle Deedah (oncebitten@twiceshy.com), December 08, 1998.

Response to Ed Yourden

How about starting small - the word 'is' comes to mind...

Ed: Looking forward to it and best of luck always.

-- Rob Michaels (sonofdust@net.com), December 08, 1998.

Hey, Ed -

Since you'll be in New York on Friday, let me buy you a beer after that UN hob-nobbing session of yours...Lots of good Irish pubs over in that part of town! Send me an e-mail, and the Guiness is on me...

-- pshannon (pshannon@inch.com), December 09, 1998.

Why don't we have a party, ps? If Ed comes, anyone within a reasonable radius of the Big Apple might want to meet him and each other, faxe-to-face. I'd raise a cup to the Yourdoneers.

-- Sara Nealy (saran@ptd.net), December 09, 1998.

...that's "face to face". I hate when that happis...happens.

-- Sara Nealy (saran@ptd.net), December 09, 1998.

C'mon, Ed...

Sounds like we're taking you out...

-- pshannon (pshannon@inch.com), December 09, 1998.

It's very early Friday morning right now. Here's a link to an article on what's supposed to be taking place at the U.N. later today:

http://www.news.com/News/Item/0,4,29756,00.html?owv

The title is, "United Nations hosts Y2K forum". It quotes an official as saying that about 120 member states, or two-thirds of the UN, will be sending people to attend.

-- Kevin (mixesmusic@worldnet.att.net), December 11, 1998.

Ed,

You flying back via Atlanta? Got any layover time here?

-- Robert A. Cook, P.E. (Kennesaw, GA) (cook.r@csaatl.com), December 11, 1998.

There are also two articles today about the UN summit at www.worldnetdaily.com

-- Rob Michaels (sonofdust@net.com), December 11, 1998.

You go, Ed !!! Closed to media, speak the truth!
The *first* order of the day: A declaration to stop calling it a "bug." It's not small + cutsey. It's more than a bomb. Cataclysm? Imploding Exploding Convulsion Collision? Anything other than bug!

Mr. Ed Yourdon to the global rescue. Make them take the plunge and declare an international emergency with orderly preparation.

From AP Breaking News on Friday, 12/11/1998:

http://www.tampabayonline.net/news/news1014.htm

Global Conference On Millennium Bug Opens At U.N. Headquarters

UNITED NATIONS (AP) - The first global conference on the so-called ``Year 2000 bug'' opened Friday with the acknowledgment that not all of the computer problems will be fixed on time and that nations must start planning to contain the damage.

Addressing delegates from more than 120 U.N. member-states, Under Secretary-General for Management Joseph E. Connor said it was impossible to predict the full effect of the problem, also known by its shorthand Y2K, on the world's computer systems - and the global economy that depends on them.

``All we know for sure is the timing,'' he said of the Y2K bug. ``The scope ... is simply daunting.''

Assessments of what might happen vary wildly, especially in developing countries. They tend to use much less sophisticated technology relying on software that cannot be updated. In the developed world, troubleshooters are daunted by the sheer number of computer systems needing to be checked and corrected.

Even though there are thousands of programmers around the world working on Y2K, many experts say there is not enough time to solve all of the problems. Connor said the focus of Friday's meeting was on contingency planning to contain the damage from the inevitable failures.

``We have to get used the fact that some factors will not be addressed,'' he said. But with proper planning ``we should be able to limit the millennium bug to an inconvenience rather than a major disaster.''

Conference organizers walked a fine line between grave warnings and cautious optimism.

``We all know we are in a race against time,'' said Ahmad Kamal, the Pakistan ambassador to the United Nations and chairman of the U.N. Economic and Social Council's Working Group on Informatics. ``Hopefully, we will reach some conclusions by the end of the day on how to proceed.''

Kamal is the United Nations' point-man for the Y2K problem, and organized the conference along with John A. Koskinen, chairman of the United States' presidential council on the Y2K bug.

After remarks by Connor the delegates closed the meeting to the news media. Kamal said barring reporters was aimed at encouraging frank discussion of countries' preparedness on the problem.

David P. Roundy, a commander in the U.S. Coast Guard who is helping direct the agency's Y2K efforts, said he was glad the world had finally decided to look at the problem.

``This really needed to happen,'' he said. ``Unfortunately, it really needed to happen a year ago.''

There are 386 days remaining until Jan. 1, 2000. Global estimates for fixing the problem run as high as $600 billion, according to the Gartner Group, a technology research firm, not including potential lawsuits.

Copyright 1998 Associated Press.
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-- Leska (allaha@earthlink.net), December 11, 1998.

" The *first* order of the day: A declaration to stop calling it a "bug."

Correction, to stop calling it "The So-called Year 2000 Bug". If I hear that term one more time I'll go insane...insaner?

Is it just me or anyone else thinks this conference is way too little way too late?

-- Chris (catsy@pond.com), December 11, 1998.

"Bug" is what it's called the most in Britian. "Y2K" is what it's called the most in the U.S.

I call it the "year 2000 computer problem" when I talk to DGI's.

-- Kevin (mixesmusic@worldnet.att.net), December 11, 1998.

Where is Ed?

xxxxxxxx xxxxxxxx

-- Leska (allaha@earthlink.net), December 14, 1998.