Ligoniere, IN: At 2 p.m. today our factory human resource department announced all vacations scheduled for next week will be cancelled. They are doing this because they're afraid Y2k may cause problems the first week of Jan. and want to have parts stocked up!!! Most of the people were screaming mad....all I could do was laugh. Here it is, 14 days left 'til Jan. 1st, and they are just NOW starting to worry? They haven't even had their computers checked yet! The place aught to be a zoo by next Thur. (our last scheduled day to work.)

-- justme (justme@myhouse.com), December 17, 1999

Answers

Please add some credibility by at least naming the company.........you can do it anonymously and would then separate your info from all these urban legends that surface here so often.

Thanks.

-- Craig (craig@ccinet.ab.ca), December 17, 1999.

This NO JOKE the name of the company is (believe it or not) Millennium Industries, Inc. of Ligoniere, IN They make fuel rails for the auto industry. I can't give my *real* name, but whatever other info I can provide, let me know and I'll do my best to answer you.

-- justme (justme@myhouse.com), December 17, 1999.

And just how would YOU know they haven't had their computers checked yet?

As far as I know most of these checks are done at night when everyone has gone home. Unless you're part of the IT staff in some way they probably wouldn't bother to tell you. They might if you asked, however.

Did you even bother to verify this part of your story or did you just throw it in for a little added Doomer seasoning?

-- (just@another. far out story), December 17, 1999.

I got my RELIABLE information from my best friend...who happens to BE the computer geek there! The company has refused to do ANY remediation whatsoever because they do not believe anything is going to happen. They are only making extra parts to placate their customers, ie, Ford, GM, Saturn.

-- justme (justme@myhouse.com), December 17, 1999.

Okay, next question. Are the computers they use there store bought new PC's on a network that are already Y2K compliant? if they are then I can see why they don't feel that there would be a problem.

On the other hand if they have a newer midrange or mainframe they utilize then it would be checked by the manufacturer regardless of whether the company thinks there is a problem. They'll send a tech guy out free of charge to determine if there is going to be any problems, and again, usually after hours as not to disrupt the flow of work for the rest of the company. It's called product support. When you spend tens of thousands of dollars it's something you get with the package. And then the other thousands of dollars you spend buying applications from the same manufacturer makes you sort of a valued customer.

And they have been doing this for years now... not just since you and your computer friend have known about Y2K.

-- (just@another.far out story), December 17, 1999.

justme, for further verification/validity, are you referring to:

(from www.uswestdex.com) MILLENNIUM GROUP.......... (219) 894-3163 925 N MAIN ST LIGONIER IN

- Auto Parts & Supplies-New;

- Auto Parts & Supplies-Whsle & Mfrs;

- Hubcaps

-- Ford Prefect (bring@your.towel), December 17, 1999.

...and regarding the software/hardware vendors coming out to make sure everything is fine - this *may* fly for mainframe level apps, but for UNIX & PC's, the sysadmin folks need to be extremely proactive to make sure they're compliant. The vendors will *not* necessarily make you aware of changes in compliancy status, etc. Their hands are already full with techies people who GI.

I'm currently wrestling with BMC who blindsided us with a patch which doesn't work (versus the app that currently will work...for the next 14 days.) They mailed out the notification letter on 12/1/99 (arrived a week later) - thanks folks!

Even people who have been proactive are doing last minute scrambling - just look at all the recent Microsoft postings of late on this forum with apps that have changed status to non-compliant as of December. And then there's the numerous postings/articles about the high % of small-medium sized businesses who haven't done squat...it would seem to me that some of those should start popping out of the woodwork any day now if those articles have any validity.

Not saying that this is necessarily a totally true & valid posting from justme - but it certainly is not unbelievable. My $0.02.

-- Ford Prefect (bring@your.towel), December 17, 1999.

My company upgraded our pcs two weeks ago. The IT guys put a sticker in the corner on each moniter and gave us regular e-mail updates. I know 1 person of 200 who lost his hard drive and 3 years of e-mail records. He had backups for his hard drive, so it wasn't a total loss.

-- John Littmann (JTL9700@JUNO.COM), December 17, 1999.

Justine, Thanks for the news. Don't let the hecklers heckle you.

-- Mara (MaraWayne@aol.com), December 17, 1999.

In some companies, if an IT staffer mucks with user PCs without letting the user know about it in advance, that staffer will get reprimanded both by the user's management and by IT management.

In a previous life, my staff and I did a lot of our best work after hours, some of it on user PCs. Most users wanted to know what we were doing to their hardware and/or software, and user management wanted to know what they were getting for their money. Both we and the users wanted the users to know, not only about PC changes, but also about non-trivial changes on the mainframe, so that if there were adverse side effects, they would know to call us right away, rather than waste time looking in the wrong places for the cause.

Jerry

-- Jerry B (skeptic76@erols.com), December 17, 1999.

justme,

Thanks muchly for going out on a limb to post this. Just a few questions: How many employees does this company have? Do they have more locations than just the one in Ligoniere? If they are a publicly-traded corp., have you seen their Y2K disclosure statement?

-- (RUOK@yesiam.com), December 17, 1999.

justme: Thanks for the info and updates. I wish you and Millennium well.

Ford: Have you seen this thread?

-- Steve (hartsman@ticon.net), December 18, 1999.

Thanks Steve, I missed that one - had DGI relatives over around Thanksgiving when that was posted. Personally, I only stocked up on peanuts, a few pints of beer, my towel, and electronic thumb...I plan to get the #@$$ off this planet before TSHTF! Next year will be mostly harmless, anyway... ;-)

-- Ford Prefect (bring@your.towel), December 18, 1999.