Bill Gates isn't worried, why are we?greenspun.com : LUSENET : TimeBomb 2000 (Y2000) : One Thread |
Check this out. Bill "the Beast" Gates, who the pollyannas all assumed would produce the Magic Bullet, turns out to be something of a pollyanna himself:http://www.techweb.com/se/directlink.cgi?CRW19981207S0003
Whew. Now I can stop worrying about Y2K, because Bill says it won't be a big problem for us. And what a good thing that we're not dedendent on overseas trade! Thank you Mr. Gates!
-- Ben Dair (not@aol.com), December 08, 1998
This is particularly interesting, because one of Microsoft's main markets is the SMALL business enterprise that has a handful of PCs, a bunch of software that's completely uncontrolled, undocumented, un- backed-up, etc.A recent interview with John Koskinen (quoted on one of the other threads here) indicated that there are 23.5 million small businesses in the U.S. At this point, approx 75% have made NO preparations at all (thus belying Gates' optimistic statement about the amount of time and money invested in Y2K). Far more sobering is the statistic, based on industry surveys, that approx 50% of small businesses do not plan to do anything about Y2K in 1999, either. Instead, they're going to do the same thing Russia is doing with its nuclear reactors: fix on failure.
-- Ed Yourdon (ed@yourdon.com), December 08, 1998.
My my, they certainly cut that short. According to the Y2K info at the Office 2000 briefing they expect economic disruption, brownouts, and some transportation problems. Sounds about like what I expect, and I expect much of the rest of the world to be worse. Don't see how that is much of a pollyanna.
-- Paul Davis (davisp1953@yahoo.com), December 08, 1998.
He gets an "F+" for the happy face, Koskinen response.Diane
-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), December 08, 1998.
Um..Paul, being a polyanna yourself, how can you recognise one? ;)(ducks for the blow)
-- Chris (catsy@pond.com), December 08, 1998.
Billy boy didn't get to be the "big"onaire he is today by a properly placed scratch on the *ss here, and an appropriate belch there.How much is that mega-fortress he built up in Washington estimated at these days? You can bet your "butt" he'll have "his" covered when the #@!* hits the fan. I don't take his word as gospel or the word of any other gazillionaire who can buy their way out of trouble in a pinch. He doesn't want public panic anymore than the government does. After all, people would stop buying his product and spend their money on stuff that will keep them alive and safe.
-- (mass@delusions.com), December 08, 1998.
...and Warren Buffett dumps silver. What in the world are these 2 guys doing???? :-P
-- (Hmmmm@thinkaboutit.com), December 08, 1998.
I think you are being a bit unfair to Bill, before opening his mouth on this issue he visited http://visit.internet2000-plc.com and also downloaded MilScan.He is a very wise man that actually carries out he's own research.
-- Bob Johnson-Perkins (bob@Internet2000-Plc.com), December 08, 1998.
But will he be in an elevator or 777 on New Year's Day next year?
-- Robert A. Cook, P.E. (Kennesaw, GA) (cook.r@csaatl.com), December 08, 1998.
Buffett DUMPS silver?Surely I read about a month ago that he'd just bought several million ounces of it? I know that I read that..are you saying he's gone and sold it now?
-- Leo (leo_champion@hotmail.com), December 08, 1998.
Please post a reference site to the Warren Buffett deal. Thank you.
-- Goldi (goldilucks@yahoo.com), December 08, 1998.
Does anyone besides me think this is ludicrous? I mean, this guy is the head of a software company that dumps out more unfinished code than the rest of the world twice over, and he claims not a problem because: [select pollyanna answer # 5 here] They're working on it, and spending money on itNote: This is within two days of the time M$ announced there was a "minor" Y2K bug in the newly released WIN98.
Barf.
-- rocky (rknolls@hotmail.com), December 08, 1998.
Win95 Win98Next release will be ??? WIN00 ???
-- Rob Michaels (sonofdust@net.com), December 08, 1998.
Bill Gates doesn't know squat about the computers that do the bulk of the work in the world. For Cripes' sake, he only sold single-user operating systems up until about four years ago!
-- Nathan (nospam@all.com), December 08, 1998.
Oh come on now Chris - a four is not pollyannaish - a bump in the road is not what I am talking about.The next release of the Windows OS is supposed to be NT 5.0 - due out real soon now, then comes Windows 2000. I have thought of starting a pool when the release date grows near, as to just when the name will be changed to Windows 2001. If it wasn't for the long lead time I think I could put it over - given MS's record it surely won't be released on time.
-- Paul Davis (davisp1953@yahoo.com), December 09, 1998.