Hello, I have been a mainframe consultant for 14 years. For the last 3 years I have had a number of contracts doing Y2K remediation, with Motorola, Nabisco, Peabody Mining, MICA (insurance co. for malpratice) and IBM on the Governments mainframe for Dept. Health Services. I never ran into any showstoppers that someone like me, and the likemes are always on site, couldn't fix within hours. UNTIL I hit Washington DC. IBM has the contract to do a number of Government mainframe remediation projects. The one I was on had 46 people assigned to the task (at $200 plus per hour) and only 6 of us knew the code. The rest were mgrs., supervisiors. When I left in Sept. 99 I would be suprised if the job was 30% complete. Maybe this was an isolated case of what is happening in the government but I suspect not. I can't believe how blatent the press is lying about the governments readiness. Jim Ross

-- James M. Ross (JROSS30113@AOL.COM), December 01, 1999

Answers

Something is different. This week, the local Washington, D.C. news channels have had stories about some "regular" people who are preparing for some problems. They were not identified as nuts or kooks. The local reporters are reporting that it would be smart to have a week's worth of food and water "just in case". This is the first I've seen this kind of reporting (without snickering) in the D.C. area. Still, almost everyone I know in town thinks it's not a problem. I was at a meeting a month ago where someone (big in Md. Democratic circles) laughed when I said I still had some things to buy to be prepared). When I reminded him that our chairman had lost power for 6 days during Hurricane Floyd, and had to go to the local grocery every night and cook on the grill, throw out all her rotting food, etc., he paused. The rest of the evening, he peppered me with questions like, how much water and firewood are you buying? I've given up talking anyone else into preparing. All of my extended family is ready. It seems to be a question of looking unsophisticated if you prepare for trouble.

-- chrispierce (chrispierce@hotmail.com), December 01, 1999.

Jim,

One of my uncles worked for IBM near D.C. until they sold off his division in the late 1980's or early 1990's. They were designing the "new" hardware for the Air Traffic Controllers. I believe IBM started bidding on the project back in the early 1980's. I couldn't believe how long the "bidding" process took and how many audits and evaluations they had to go through. He eventually left the project for another one before they finished. I think he worked on it for a decade.

It was hopeless.

I hope the government is better prepared for Y2K, but I know differently.

-- nothere nothere (notherethere@hotmail.com), December 02, 1999.