Where do the official reporters on Y2K readiness get their info on countries and industries from ?

There appears to be little incentive for companies or countries to publically reveal concerns/issues in media and web sites. And do all senior execs in companies really understand the status of remediation projects... And do all techies who understand the status of remediation projects really understand the implications...

So, where would the real facts come from ?

-- (indigoseahorse@hotmail.com), November 19, 1999

Answers

Indigo,

Good morning. I attended a Gartner Group meeting for the State of Ohio late last week. Garnter's V.P., Mr. Hotle, stated that Gartner got their info from a survey (14,000 respondents), follow-up phone calls, conversations with their clients, and client-initiated info.

Mr. Hotle also said that they were VERY leery of the information unless it was similar to information gathered by another source...

-- Youguess Who (youguess_who@im.not.telling), November 19, 1999.

Allot of the information is self reported by the entity under question and consultants that are involved in the industry underquestion so you are trapped between mutual self interests.

real facts IMHO are slim, few and far between all the hype that is presented.

for example, from the end of October

V.A gao Report,not good at all

This is from a GAO report on Veteran affairs;

       We were unable to accurately determine the
       status of medical facilities efforts to renovate
       noncompliant devices. As we discussed
       previously, the individual monthly reports
       submitted by the VISNs/medical facilities
       were inaccurate. Specifically, the July 1999
       summary report that showed that about 21
       percent of medical devices had been
       renovated was incorrect. However, according
       to several medical centers, their renovation
       percentages were higher than the numbers
       reflected in the report. We pointed this out to
       the Y2K project manager, who
       acknowledged that the percentages were
       incorrect. He added that the Y2K project
       office is in the process of following up with
       its medical centers to confirm their status on
       renovation of biomedical equipment.

-- Brian (imager@home.com), November 19, 1999.

Good snip Brian.

I long had the feeling that the information and data on Y2K, even the Capers and Ed stuff on metrics, are about as accurate predictor of what will or will not happen as a weather report for next Wednesday evening or the outcome of the presidential race next year. We can't even pretend we've got an idea, even if we do focus on the possible negative stuff. We are punting in uncharted waters. The best we can say, as Bonnie Camp once wrote, is that it'll be like nothing that has ever happened before

-- Chris Byrne (cbyrne98@hotmail.com), November 19, 1999.

Hi, thanks Youguess, Brian and Chris I've just stumbled upon Dr. Howard Rubin's testimony of 13 October which has a diagram showing consensus on international reporting.

If you are as interested in the accuracy of reports as I am, you may like to take a look at it (page 6) at

http://www.senate.gov/~y2k/hearings/991013/st991013rubin.htm

Regards Indigo

-- (Indigoseahorse@hotmail.com), November 25, 1999.