Computer consultant shuns Y2K hysteria

Tuesday, June 1, 1999

By Kristen McQueary Staff Writer

Buy an extra can of beans and a gallon of milk, but don't panic on Jan. 1  the day some analysts fear a year 2000 bug will send computers into a frenzy.

"Keep calm. Don't overreact," advises Frankfort computer consultant, Rich MacMillan, who recently volunteered his time to meet with village officials in Frankfort about their Y2K preparedness.

"Well, I live here, so I wanted to make sure they're OK," MacMillan said. "I just wanted to sit down and review things with them."

Southtowners

Water service, electricity and 911 emergency systems could all be susceptible to computer glitches if municipalities do not taken appropriate steps in protecting themselves, MacMillan said.

He wanted to offer his expertise to make sure Frankfort residents won't face those problems on Jan. 1.

MacMillan said he was impressed with Frankfort's readiness and that the village is sufficiently prepared for the year 2000 computer bug that has been making consistent headlines for the past year.

"I got a very comforting feeling that the village is OK," he said. "Frankfort has their bases covered."

Village administrator Jerry Ducay thanked MacMillan during a recent Frankfort Village Board meeting.

"He came in on his own time and looked at our preparedness," Ducay said. "We just purchased a software upgrade for water and utility systems that should be here within a week to 10 days. That was the only remaining thing we had to do."

As the owner of a computer consulting business, Corac Industries, MacMillan has spent much of the past 30 years hooking up network systems for businesses. Over the past two years, however, he has concentrated on the Y2K computer bug.

"I've been working with small to mid-sized businesses to getting them on the road to planning a year 2000 strategy. I started doing this two years ago and thought people were aware (of the computer bug). They weren't," he said.

While large corporations have been working on the Y2K issue for years, many small businesses have procrastinated. Money is one reason, as well as general confusion over how to begin to fix the problem, he said.

"It's not rocket science," MacMillan said. "It's just a matter of working through your facility."

He suggested that business owners do a general inventory of all the equipment they use, whether battery- or electric-powered, and start making calls to manufacturers about whether their equipment is Y2K compliant.

"If you've got a VCR that you use to view training films for new employees, that's one thing. But if it's used to start up surveillance cameras in your storehouse and it doesn't kick on, then it could be a problem," he said.

As for the people stockpiling water, food and weapons who fear anarchy will break out on Jan. 1, MacMillan said, "They're overreacting."

He has advised people to hold onto their November and December mail, such as bills and bank statements, to compare them with those that arrive in January. Watch for discrepancies and examine them a little more closely than usual, he said.

He also suggested getting prescriptions filled in December, if you have an important one that needs refilling in early January.

"There are so many unknowns. I'm not going to go build a fort and buy guns or something, but I do think there will be small brush fires here and there  traffic signals that won't work, small occurrences. But nothing major," he said.

He doesn't think there will be major shortages of any kind, unless people create them.

"You know, the biggest way to create a toilet paper shortage is to announce that there's a shortage of toilet paper," he said.

He advises those businesses that still are procrastinating to tackle the Y2K issue and get it over with. Of 600 billion computer chips shipped around the world in 1997, MacMillan estimates 2 percent to 5 percent of them are not Y2K compliant.

"You may just need to buy a new chip or you may need to replace a whole device. But then you won't have to worry about it any more," he said.

-- Norm (nwo@hotmail.com), June 02, 1999

Answers

Good advice: Don't panic...prepare. Kind of like preparing for the music to stop in a simple game of musical chairs. Only this game has 100 people and 1 chair. Da da dummm, da da dummm, da

'nuff said

-- br14 (br14@gettin.ready), June 02, 1999.

One village is almost finished - and its good news?

Hey Norm!

After they get done with "one or two more systems" - (Note: they're not done with water yet!) - then this "village" might be closer to finishing.....

Good - now, where are the other 49,000 towns and "villages" - this mean that 1000 people will be okay?

What about NYC, Chicago, or Atlanta? Wanto to try for real good news for a change?

By the way - the general advice this guy says is pretty good - where where you 18 months ogo - when it would have helped more people?

-- Robert A. Cook, PE (Kennesaw, GA) (cook.r@csaatl.com), June 02, 1999.

Is that a 8 oz or a 12 oz can of beans?

-- a (a@a.a), June 02, 1999.