Silicon Valleys Computer Currents Magazine: The Y2K Cure -- Solution or Snake Oil?

One of Silicon Valleys hallmarks is to continuously trip over strategically placed free computer publications near the entrances of most java refueling stations.

While ambling down for a much needed caffe latte jolt yesterday, the prominent cover of Computer Currents Magazine stared ... beckoning ...

It sport a HUGE green elixir bottle surrounded by bright yellow type:

The Y2K Cure and Solution or Snake Oil?

The old time label reads ... DR. DOOMS Y2K NERVE EMULSIFIER & TONIC -- FIXES DECADES, CENTURIES, MILLENNIA! GUARANTEED TO CURE ALL PC COMPLAINTS, DISTRESSES, VAPOURS, AND GOUT! BANISHES TORPIDITY WITH RAPIDITY Fine print: Patent Pending 1900.

Now, I ask, could you pass that collectors item up?

Gingerly flipping pages, a discovery emerges, they have some great Y2K articles in this weeks issue!

Because it is SO useful for those with small businesses, its recommended reading.

Diane

You can start with their web-site:

http://www.currents.net/

Feature Story: The Year 2000 Revisited

By Jim Aspinwall
First Published February 23, 1999 Bay Area Edition Y2K Resources

Has the Y2K bug bit your PC? Find out with tools that analyze, report, and sometimes fix this date dilemma. ...

Introduction
Y2K Meets PC PDQ
Feeling nervous? Who Ya Gonna Call?
Putting Tests to the Test
Diagnostic Tools for Stand-Alone PCs
Enterprise Diagnostic Tools
The Fixes
Solution or Snake Oil?
Where Microsoft Stands
The Century Date Shuffle
Is Your ISP Y2K-Compliant?
Can Update Services Help?
The Other Y2K Bug

The easiest way to both READ and PRINT OUT the long story, is to click here:
(Printer-friendly version):

http://www.currents.net/magazine/national/1704/covr1704p.html

Just the ...

Introduction

In spite of all the media hysteria, many corporations haven't taken the Y2K "problem" seriously enough to evaluate their PCs, networks, and related systems. But the clarion call has been issued. Time is running out. The clock is ticking--but not for long.

Complacency doesn't cut it when it comes to keeping your office technology healthy. Your PCs, company network, e-mail, inventory systems, and commerce Web site are all woven into the fabric of your day-to-day business. Come January 1, 2000, either you'll be up and running, or you'll find your real and virtual doors shuttered.

Of course, you know that the Y2K bug--the inability of some computers and software to handle dates after December 31, 1999--affects more than your office PCs and network. Everything from traffic signals to the phone company to elevators relies on chips that track the date, and some of these systems may fail in the new millennium.

If you don't believe that a mere date transition will raise hell, think again. On January 1, 1999, my friend Mike strolled into his HMO's pharmacy to get his monthly prescriptions filled. The clerk asked him how he usually paid the bill--an odd request, since that information was already in their computers. Or was it? The HMO's computers didn't make the transition from 1998 to 1999 properly and my friend's records were "unavailable." The year 2000 problem had arrived--a year early.

More chillingly, Patrick Simonis, a Y2K consultant in Queensland, Australia, relates what one utility official told him. The utility doesn't expect to have its systems, embedded or otherwise, fully Y2K-compliant until June 2001! And this is an organization with 200 engineers scouring every computer and instrument looking for compatibility and compliance issues.

Does this mean squashing the Y2K bug is beyond your company's humbler means? Not at all. Although there's not much you can do about traffic lights, there are plenty of affordable tools that can find, report, and sometimes fix the Y2K problems in your PCs, software, and data. This article takes another look at the Y2K problem and the products that can help you cope with it. The focus here is primarily on the PC; for a take on the Internet and your corporate intranet, seek out this issue's Net Surfer and Intranet Explorer columns. ...

Click and read the rest of the story:

http://www.currents.net/magazine/national/1704/covr1704.html

Computer Currents Magazine

Other Y2K Resources (Articles & Links)

http://www.currents.net/advisor/y2k/index.html

LINKS: Public Sites, Government Sites

http://www.currents.net/advisor/y2k/links.html

Funny Story ...

Gigglebytes

Millennium II Thousand
Coming soon to a theater near you

http://www.currents.net/magazine/national/1704/gigg1704.html

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), February 26, 1999