Y2K Will Go On and On

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A day old, so maybe old news here. <:)=

http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,33345,00.html

While world capitals bulk up security for New Year's Eve, corporations force staffers to work into the night, and airlines postpone flights until well after midnight, many experts say such steps are just early-stage precautions.

The most serious Y2K computer glitches may take a while to reveal themselves.

...

The full damage caused by the year 2000 computer glitch will be largely hidden until mid to late January, the head of a UN-sponsored Y2K data clearinghouse said on Wednesday.

Officials probably won't be able to tell what the overall impact is until the third week in January, said Bruce McConnell, head of the International Y2K Cooperation Center, which is funded by the World Bank. Meanwhile, glitches may cause many inconveniences, erode productivity, and possibly disrupt world trade, McConnell said.

Some of those predictions have already come true.

The Nigerian state-run telephone company Nitel cut service to 20,000 lines serving private competitive telephone companies in the country due to Y2K fears. The private companies say they are Y2K ready, and Nitel was just trying to disrupt the competition. Nigeria's cabinet ruled on Wednesday that Nitel could cut off private operators that it did not feel had proved themselves fully Y2K compliant. Within hours it had done so.

The domain name Year2000.com is up for sale on eBay, with an opening bid price of US$1 million. The domain name is being sold by The Year2000.com Partnership, a joint venture between Canadian computer consultant Peter de Jager and The Tenagra Corporation, a Houston-based Internet marketing agency. The auction will end at midnight US Central time on New Year's Day. So far, there haven't been any bidders. Meanwhile, the Y2K News Network, facing the prospect of obsolescence, has put its well-worn domain names up for sale. The organization, which has been publishing Y2K-related information online and in print since last year, is selling the domain names Y2Knews.com, .net, and .org on eBay, at a starting price of $5,000.

A computer glitch at cable company Insight Communications caused many subscribers to receive bills payable January 6 of the year 100. Insight said technicians have since fixed the problem and said the glitch should not be followed by any major Y2K disruptions.

The New Zealand Y2K Readiness Commission said on Thursday that Y2K breakdowns on 1 January could damage the country's economy. The world will be watching New Zealand carefully because it will be the first industrialized nation to roll into 2000, and could serve as an early warning center on whether computers may mistake 2000 for 1900, and crash or misbehave.

Y2K confidence is up among Y2K program managers and other information technology experts, according to a new survey conducted by the Information Technology Association of America. The association said that 92 percent of survey respondents reported that their organizations have taken the necessary steps to prepare for Y2K, and 64 percent predict that Y2K will not result in significant problems.

Large companies for the most part are prepared for Y2K, but smaller companies often lag behind, according to a survey by International Data Corporation. The survey of 10,000 organizations in 17 countries found a stark contrast between organizations with less than 100 employees and those with more than 1,000 employees. Half as many small companies, compared to large companies, have arranged for alternate supply channels in the event of a Y2K-related disruption, the survey found.

In a move to bolster confidence about the turnover to 2000, executives from China's main airline will pilot a passenger plane on New Year's Eve. Meanwhile, China's government says there is no chance of a Y2K-related problem cropping up at its nuclear power stations. But some analysts -- including the Central Intelligence Agency -- put China among the countries most vulnerable to Y2K troubles because of its late arrival to the battle against the bug and because of heavy use of pirated software.



-- Sysman (y2kboard@yahoo.com), December 31, 1999


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