****************************************************************** work my fingers to the bone to get ahead, and when the end of the world is looming, the derned computer geeks get all the recognition for due diligence!!!!!!! This from tomorrow's edition of the Sydney Morning Herald down unduh!!!!

- BIZ.COM

Y2K experts revise confidence levels

By BRIAN HALE

Most of the world's top computer experts plan to stockpile food, water and cash before the Y2K bug bites, but are getting everyone else off-guard with their complacency, ill-preparedness and slackness.

Says who? Only the world's top computer experts.

With less than 90 days to go until clocks tick over to zeros, their ''ill-preparedness, complacency and misplaced trust in suppliers'' could be about to plunge business and consumers around the world into serious problems, according to the organisers of a global Y2K Experts Poll.

Even though 81 per cent of the experts admit their organisations still are not ready for the date rollover, 91 per cent are still optimistic in their overall assessment of Y2K and, say the poll's organisers, the experts' complacency may be compounding broader complacency.

Only executives involved in Y2K preparations took part in the poll and the results left the organisers in an unusual predicament when the outcome was revealed at a New York press conference last week.

The experts' overall view is extremely optimistic even though their answers to subsidiary questions suggest they should be feeling the opposite because many of their organisations are not ready for Y2K, others are falling behind in readiness efforts, many have not made or tested contingency plans and most have not really checked on their suppliers' Y2K readiness.

The results of the poll, conducted by CIO magazine, Deutsche Bank chief economist Dr Ed Yardeni's Y2K Centre and the Information Systems Audit and Control Association - a global information technology organisation with more than 20,000 members in 100 countries only surveyed - almost left its organisers speechless.

Dr Yardeni, himself one of America's foremost Y2K experts, said he was puzzled that IT professionals were so optimistic about the impact of Y2K on their organisations.

''Many of them are not ready yet. They are clearly expecting a victorious outcome which may be raising complacency levels so high that people will not prepare for any possible malfunctions and failures,'' said Dr Yardeni.

Organisers admitted that the poll of 989 organisations around the world (including 26 in Australia and New Zealand) might have been a bit optimistic because it was heavily American (61 per cent of participants were from the US) as well as skewed to large organisations with over 1,000 employees (56.5 per cent) and the finance sector (23.4 per cent).

But despite this and results that look promising at first glance because 74 per cent say they are between 76 per cent and 99 per cent ready for Y2K, said Dr Yardeni, ''the real shocker is that many organisations are falling behind schedule''.

''When the first poll was conducted in June, 52 per cent expected to be done by now and 16 per cent said they would need the fourth quarter to get compliant. ********************************************************************* guess they figure if they don't get, they don't get it; no sense beatin' a dead horse if you're lookin' him in the mouth while changin' him in midstream, huh? (hey! a three-way mixed metaphor!!!)

-- Jay Urban (jurban@berenyi.com), October 04, 1999

Answers

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The leaves are turning, Thanksgiving is just around the corner, Christmas can't be far away and the New Year will be here soon.

Pumpkin pie, turkey, ham, all the trimings, egg nog and Christmas carolers singing; the first snow fall can't be far away now.

'Tis the season to be jolly, fa la la la la la la la la...

Get ready to say goodbye 1999 and hello 2000!!!

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-- no talking please (breadlines@soupkitchen.gov), October 04, 1999.

Now, it's my turn!

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

There is NOTHING mysterious about this at all. Nothing. It's simply Deja Vu all over again. 100% perfect tracking with the history of all software development.

Unfortunately.

-- BigDog (BigDog@duffer.com), October 04, 1999.

(1) Flight crew, keep whistlin' whilst you put on that parachute! Move slowly toward the door. You wouldn't want to spook the paying passengers.

(2) The survey was supposedly biased on the optimistic side...and the professionals are still preparing! (Of course, a lot of us are IT professionals...)

-- Mad Monk (madmonk@hawaiian.net), October 05, 1999.