Will the REAL benefits of Y2K please stand up?

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Again, please forgive "no paragraphs," it's my webtv that eats browser cookies.....But I've been trying to think of possible POSITIVE outcomes of Y2K.I've come up with a few, and would enjoy reading some inputs from the group as well. Maybe Yourdon will pick up a few of these for his new book, and we'll ALL benefit from looking ( at least attempting to look) at some positive outcomes.Here are a few to start the thread.

1) The possibility exists that we COULD in fact burst the "lie bubble" once and for all.We've all told lies in the past, and the familiarity with keeping the lie "going" with still MORE lies until the initial lie becomes so large we can no longer deal with it's immensity, and the perpetuity of that lie (or series of lies) must end. Imagine the possibility of an elected official or government body that is held accountable for integrity, honesty and moral values. 2) Out of necessity, we begin to trust our neighbors again.Selfishness becomes "passe" in order that we may survive.Assisting each other in times of great need could form new friendships and bonds that we've forgotten as a society.....yet so desperately need. 3) Wealth accumulation at anyone's expense falls by the wayside.The poor teach the rich how to survive, and the rich teach the poor how to manage their businesses and finances. I'm fully aware of my "stretch" involving this subject,but please contribute! We may surprise ourselves with a collective effort toward the positive.......

Keepon

-- Keepon (vacillating@hourly.edu), August 25, 1999

Answers

In the area of hazmat difficulties: it is possible that people will become more earnestly concerned about what is going on in their local communities and more aware of the health and environmental risks, thereby creating a serious call for cleaning up what doesn't work now, eliminating unnecessary risks and industries. Much has been done to clean up already, but so much needs to be done. For every step forward we take, there seem to be five backwards. I perceive the nuclear industry as already on its way out: it's real expensive to store all the waste. Alternatives are being researched and I would expect these projects to gain a big boost; if the infrastructure and money are still there. (Yeah, a big leap of faith, huh?)

-- Shelia (Shelia@active-stream.com), August 25, 1999.

General social resistance to mud will be lowered, as well as proper ladylike cultural behavior expectations.

-- King of Spain (madrid@aol.com), August 25, 1999.

Had the opportunity to swap Y2K remediation stories with a friend the other day. He is an engineer with one of North America's largest utilities that has seen its remediation budget climb towards the $100 million mark. An incredible sum of money, but after hearing about his testing, I realize that I have not been as bad off as I thought.

He was part of a team testing a software module of about 200,000 lines of code which is currently in place at a number of the company's plants. According to the test protocol, each feature had to be tested with a data set for the following dates:

Sept. 9, 1999
Dec. 31, 1999
Jan. 1, 2000
Feb. 27, 2000
Feb, 28, 2000
Feb. 29, 2000
Mar. 1, 2000
Apr. 1, 2000
Dec. 31, 2000
Jan. 1, 2001
Jan. 1, 2010
Jan. 1, 2020
Jan. 1, 2030

At each stage a print screen of the resulting output was generated and collated. In all, about 100 people were involved with the project.

After this Herculean effort, the sum total of date bugs found on any of the above dates was precisely zero. However, several dozen other bugs were found and documented, some which were well known to the operators, but nonetheless had never been fixed.

Seems like Y2K remediation is turning into the mother of all bug cleanups. Not very cost efficient - but at the end of the day I suppose it's nice to know that legacy systems which have been in operation for years are finally getting properly tested!



-- Computer Pro (first_minister@hotmail.com), August 25, 1999.

Hey, King Of Spain. Have you seen Mortal Combat II? There's a scene in that movie where Sonja Blade fights another woman in a mud hole.

-- CS Man (csm@smoke.com), August 25, 1999.

Whoa!! Thanks, dude!

-- King of Spain (madrid@aol.com), August 25, 1999.


Add this to this benefits list:

Regardless of the outcome, a significant portion of the population (about 33%?) has undergone a major paradigm shift. No longer will we take technology for granted or blindly assume that the conveniences of modern life will always be there whenever we need them. In the long run, I think this will make us stronger... better prepared to weather any future crises.

-- M.C. Hicks (mhicks@greenwich.com), August 25, 1999.


Simply read history. How have people responded to any similar upheaval and crisis? Expect the same, we have not really changed.

This is probably more accurate:

"General social resistance to mud will be lowered, as well as proper ladylike cultural behavior expectations."

-- Mumsie (Shezdremn@aol.com), August 26, 1999.


here ya are king of spain, love that mud wrestling! let's go for it!I still want to make you my little puppy.are you still interested?

-- gorgo the great (masked marvel@WWF.com), August 26, 1999.

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