GARTNERGROUP/CAP GEMINI: MOST VENDOR SOFTWARE NOT OK FOR Y2K

With less than nine months to go until the Year 2000, an astounding 81 percent of vendor software applications still aren't millennium-ready, according to a recent report from the GARTNERGROUP. Testing shows that 6 percent of vendor software that shipped Year 2000 patches aren't completely compliant either.

Progress is "not happening fast enough," said Lou Marcoccio, Year 2000 Research Director at the Stamford, Conn.-based research firm. Of the so-called Year 2000-ready packaged applications examined by CAP GEMINI's Application Renovation Center, 10 to 15 percent still contain an average of four to five millennium bugs per program, said Noah Ross, who runs the Center. The problem for many corporate customers is that, to receive a free Year 2000-ready version of a vendor's software, customers have to be using the most current version. "Many customers don't, and it's a big problem."

One of the biggest exposures for corporate customers is the uncertain readiness of Windows 95, said Jeffrey Tarter, Editor of "Softletter." MICROSOFT "has been very ambiguous" about whether it has identified and fixed all the millennium bugs in Windows 95. (JG)

Story at Computerworld: http://www2.computerworld.com/home/print.nsf/all/9904129DD6

-- Bill (billdale@lakesnet.net), April 18, 1999