What is the Jo Ann Effect and how did it get to be so named??

-- K Stevens (Chiam123@aol.com), March 19, 1999

Answers

The JAE:

http://www.computerpro.com/~phystad/jae.html

-- (helpful@links.com), March 19, 1999.

The Joanne effect was a bunch of bullshit that was supposed to happen Jan.1 , Feb. 1 , March 1 , bla bla bla. The hardcore doomers on this site are still spouting that it is really secretly happening all over the place. We just don't know about it because of this great big conspiracy by all of the corporations and Governments.

The Remediator

-- The Remediator (i'minthe@trenches.com), March 19, 1999.

See this message thread for information on whether the Jo Anne Effect is over-rated.

http://www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id=000Zpc

-- (helpful@links.com), March 19, 1999.

Yes guys, I'm still lurking here :-)

The url already posted is a very good place to go for a description of the Jo Anne Effect. Pam Hystad very kindly put that page in her web space and linked it to the comp.software.year-2000 faq.

The Jo Anne Effect was named after me by Cory Hamasaki. I was the first person to clearly point out to csy2-k readers exactly why accounting problems might crop up in 1999. (The term "Jo Anne Effect" gives me heartburn, but the acronym "JAE" doesn't seem to bother me too much.)

I don't recall ever posting that the JAE would shut down companies or cause economic meltdown. We are only talking about software that generates financial statements, after all. Most companies, even very large ones, can probably whip up monthly balance sheets manually, if necessary.

I would guess that fiscal 2000 roll-over problems might *strongly* encourage previously "pollyanna" managers to get their acts together and do something about Y2k remediation.

The "Jo Anne Effect" does exist, and if you go here

http://www.accpac.com/products/simply/notice9901.htm

you can see what a software company has to say about it. Most problems can be resolved with a software upgrade.

Jo Anne

-- Jo Anne Slaven (slaven@rogerswave.ca), March 19, 1999.

Thanks Jo Anne.

-- Mike Lang (webflier@erols.com), March 19, 1999.

This is a good article about what did and didn't happen on 1-1-1999.

http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/background/y2k/y2k020899.sml

-- (helpful@links.com), March 20, 1999.