I was wondering: are there any lurkers in this forum from The Netherlands? My feeling is the awareness over here is way beyond the US (can you imagine?) Also people from Germany can respond. I have a very bad feeling about the Y2K state in Germany and this situation can directly influence The Netherlands (imports, exports, European power grid, etc. etc.)

Robert from The Netherlands

-- robert (why2k@holland.com), March 08, 1999

Answers

Hi Robert,

I am originally from the UK, currently living in the US. I am interested in any information coming from the European sector. Would you be a bit more specific about awareness in the Netherlands being way beyond the US. In what way is awareness way beyond? Does this awareness involve preparedness? If so, what type of preparations are going on?

Also, do you have any added insights as to how the Euro is really doing over there?

-- Carol (usa-uk@email.msn.com), March 08, 1999.

Robert; Great to hear from the netherlands. Are your Prime Minister and Jan Timmers doing a good job disseminating insights about Y2K? We could use more insights from your good country. Look forward to hearing more from you. Thanks for your post.

-- Watchful (seethesea@msn.com), March 08, 1999.

I've noticed no other Dutch (what do prefer: Holland, Netherlands, Dutch, or ?) contributing - at least with their country displayed. Any one could of course be from anywhere - but it fairly obvious sometimes whether a person is from Texas or Canadianland. And we do have a few Lousiana type who keep paddling around the bayous and byways. 8<) UK and OZ (Australia - mixed group of areas and cities), NZ (both North and South - though we're still "discussing who are yankees and southerners if they're from downunder- their opinion seems to be that we're all "northerners" up here - which some folks get a bit bent out of shape thinking about)...

No known German, Belgium, or Austrian, Central Europe.

No obvious Spanish, no French, Italian participants - those users preferring to use Spanish or French or Italian, rather than mangled and misspelled and mistyped English? Possibly.

In general - we don't know much about, and have heard even less about Y2K remediation in Europe. I'm hoping that some of it was completed during the Euro conversion - but that is a relatively limited group of financial programs, and so things could be very ominous indeed, as I believe you indicated. Comments? Corrections?

Welcome here!

-- Robert A. Cook, P.E. (Kennesaw, GA) (cook.r@csaatl.com), March 08, 1999.

Do not underestimate the importance of the english language to a country's y2k prospects. The awareness phase logically has to preceed the remediation phase, and most of the information circulating early on (and now) was in english. Countries that use english the least were likely to get the alarm later than uk/usa/oz/can etc, consequently they generally got going that much later. Also, all the ongoing necessary info is mostly in english. I'm aware that even the lowliest of countries contains plenty of people fluent in english, but operating in a second language would make it that much more difficult to comprehend something as vast and finnicky as y2k.

-- humpty (no.6@thevillage.com), March 08, 1999.

Alas, all of my family is from either Netherlands or Germany, but operatible word is 'FROM'. I would love to visit your country, and plan to sometime in the future. I beleive you when you say you are ahead of the ball. I have noticec throught out history, Hollanders are always among the fore-runners... Keep it up, and keep us informed... It is good to hear from the old country.

-- Carlie Scott (carlie_scott@yahoo.com), March 08, 1999.

Robert; What actions are you and others taking in view of your greater awareness? Please respond to this and prior question. Thanks,

-- Watchful (seethesea@msn.com), March 08, 1999.

Robert, here's the address of a dutch y2k site. It might be yours?, the guy at the site is called Rob too.

http://gonow.to/y2kfacts

-- humpty (no.6@thevillage.com), March 08, 1999.

Hoe gaat het er mee, Robert? Ik woon in Salt lake City en ik heb vroeger in Hengelo, Overijsel gewoont. In 1952 ben ik met mijn ouders naar de US gegaan. Ed Yourdon hebt hezegt dat we tien jaar depression zullen hebben. Hij weet meer van computers ddan ik, zo ik heb nu al ongeveer 8 jaar voedsel en nu nog twee jaar meer. Als er niks gebeurt in 2000, dan zal ik veel voedsel hebben voor mijn pensioen. Ik ben 63. Waar woon jij? Heb je een E-mail address? Tot ziens!

-- Freddie (Dutch) the Freeloader (freddie@aol.com), March 08, 1999.

My great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandfather was Dutch. My son is named after him. I've always admired Dutch sensibilities. My bet is that Holland and Switzerland will fare the best in the next decade.

-- Puddintame (dit@dot.com), March 08, 1999.

thanks for the reponses. I know the awareness is very low in The Netherlands because I've been involved in organizing a seminar with subject: Y2K contingency planning and crisismanagement. We had to cancel the seminar because of an extreem low response rate (0.2%) Reactions such as: we have new PC's so everthing is fine, this Y2K thing is totally overblown, etc. we targetted on DMU's of medium sized companies.

The Dutch Millennium Platform's main objective is to control the public reaction. (kind of Koskinens club) Offical statements such as: no need to stockpile anything, all key sectors will be fine (no garantuee offcourse). I have regurarly send e-mail to them. On the other hand: I've talked to insiders who are working on high levels in Y2K projects within the government and they are preparing for the worst. There are even plans for confiscating trucks that can store liquids for water distribution in case the water supply breaks down. These trucks will be placed in strategic places throughout cities. I know this is not first hand information but it was on a sheet which was presented during a closed seminar for government people only.

Now, to give you some bold facts which are presented on the dutch Millennium Platform website. A recent report from the Dutch Central Bank shows that 75% of the Dutch banks will not meet the deadline for remediation which was set by the Central Bank. Another astounding fact is that 66% of the Dutch banks stated that the deadline for completion of testing will not be met

However (and now comes the big PR spin): all banks expect to finish their Y2K projects in time. This is mentioned as the conclusion of the report and this was also taken over by a lot of journalists.No need to take your money out of the bank because everything will be fine.

I guess only e very limited number of people took the time to read the entire report which says something different than the conclusion. This reminds me of the US senate report.

Robert from The Netherlands

-- robert (why2k@holland.com), March 09, 1999.

Let me try to translate this:

How are you, Robert? I live in SLC and I lived earlier in Hegelo, Overisland. In 1952 I went with my parents to the US. Ed Y.has said that we will have ten years of depression. He knows more about computers than I so have I nowapproximately 8 years ??? and now two years more. When nothing happens in 2000, then shall I have many ??? form my retirement. I am 63. Where do you live? Do you have an email address? ???

Please correct my translation.

I lived in East Frisia after WW2. Learned to speak, not read Low German which is a lot like Dutch.

I am not surprised if the Germans (and other countries) are far behind in remediation. What do you expect when some of their women sunbathe their sex organs in public? I still have sprained eyeballs from my last trip to Europe.

hatchou@yahoo.com

-- Not Again! (seenit@ww2.com), March 09, 1999.