Wednesday September 15 2:35 PM ET

Some 37 Pct Of Chinese People Clueless On Y2k

BEIJING (Reuters) - More than one-third of people interviewed in 11 cities in China are clueless about the causes and effects of the millennium, or Y2K, computer bug, the China Daily said Wednesday.

It said only 63 percent of 4,500 people questioned in the survey understood that the Y2K bug could cause chaos when old computers, programmed to recognize the year by the last two digits, may confuse 2000 with 1900.

Some respondents even connected the computer bug with worms, fossils and corrupt officials, the daily said.

But 86 percent of those who owned personal computers were better informed and understood the causes and after-effects of the Y2K bug, it said.

People who lived in developed southeastern coastal cities, including Shanghai, were the most knowledgeable about the bug, the newspaper said.

It said more than 77 percent of respondents in the southern boomtown of Guangzhou could identify the cause of the bug, while fewer than 60 percent of those in the central cities of Zhengzhou and Wuhan were as knowledgable.

The survey results were published after the State Department published a report saying inland Chinese cities faced potential Y2K computer problems affecting banking, communications, medical services and power.

The assessment said the more developed coastal cities, where the government had concentrated its efforts, were generally well prepared.

``At the present time it appears there may be a risk of potential disruption in the key sectors of banking and finance, telecommunications, medical services and in electrical power and infrastructure systems outside of the coastal areas,'' it said.

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Well that's about 62% less than the US!!

Ray

-- Ray (ray@totacc.com), September 15, 1999

Answers

Ray, you took the words right out of my, er, uh, keyboard.

-- Pearlie Sweetcake (storestuff@home.now), September 15, 1999.

LOL!

Reuters actually used the word "clueless!" (I double-checked. It's a fact.)

I wouldn't want to be the person who wrote this story.

:)

-- FM (vidprof@aol.com), September 15, 1999.

So someone please explain how the Chinese got all this pirated software "compliant"? I remember hearing Larry Gershwin of the CIA testifying before the Senate Y2K Committee and saying essentially China was toast because 90+% of its software was pirated. So? What happened?

-- rumdoodles (rumdoodles@yahoo.com), September 15, 1999.

Ray- My thoughts exactly when I saw the original article!

-- Mad Monk (madmonk@hawaiian.net), September 15, 1999.