Since Oct.28,1999 I have read,studied,studied,read Dale Ways Essay and his subsequent posting on TB2K Nov.9,1999.

After Reading it I printed it out and have gone back to it several times. I have posted excerpts from it, probably obnoxiously to some, but I thought it had Major credibility.

In the essay he totally downplays the iron triangle going down and also embeds. He also talks openly about the certain FALLACIES that exist. One of these fallacies was the Rollover which he blamed the media for perpetuating.

The three things in the essay that keep me vigilant are his prescience on the rollover, saying that most are, "focused 5% of the problem that can be easiest fixed and ignoring the 95% that needed the most focus". The second thing was his take on big systems i.e. BANKS. and third the way he ends the essay.

Basically stating that: "Collectively (programming elite) we are going to drive the ship right into the iceberg and not say anything until the screaming starts and then claim we did all we could to make everything compliant. WE will burn in hell."

Is it over or not?? I think not?? please refute using the above mentioned Essay.

-- d....... (dciinc@aol.com), January 03, 2000

Answers

Didn't follow much of the fruitier Y2K stuff, but whoever wrote the stuff in quotes above, (this Ways fellow?) appears to be a nut. I'd ignore what he says. The iceberg is fog. Yes, Virginia, it is over. Fewer and fewer people will be able to milk money and significance out of Y2K. Like I wrote you, If he thinks embedded chips are a big issue, well; he has no credibility. I can't be bothered to go into the why. Give up on saving face.

Y2K: Simple problems, spread across time; solvable, with good interim workarounds, and minimal effects on society.

Memorize that.

-- Jim Thompson (jimthompsonmd@attglobal.net), January 03, 2000.

Jim,

Whoa, slow down! Did you read the Essay? if not Please refrain from comments.

He said embeds would be no BIG deal. If you are a programmer I hope you didn't remediate as fast as you read!!

-- d.......... (dciinc@aol.com), January 03, 2000.

Umm Jim, Dale Ways is the chairman of the IEEE. He probably knows more about the issue than anyone else. He is definately not a fruitcake.

-- John Ainsworth (ainsje00@wfu.edu), January 03, 2000.

Jim Thompson MD? Is that the message? A doctor is telling programmers that Y2k is no problem? I feel better already, thanks Doc. Sheesh.

I worked on Y2k for 2 or 3 years before I even HEARD of embedded systems. The first time someone said the power might go out, I though it was a silly joke. The big danger is in mainframe systems, poorly maintained, remediated by shoot-from-the-hip programmers who resent being assigned to Y2k.

Lemme see, it's noonish on the first working day after the rollover, and everybody's happy. Well, the Titanic passengers weren't panicky for the first hour, either, but that sure doesn't mean they were safe.

Long time to go, folks. By June we'll have a pretty good idea how much trouble we're in.

-- bw (home@puget.sound), January 03, 2000.

Jim Thompson:

MEMORIZE THIS:

"I have a reading comprehension problem. I read only what supports my view of the world. I misread people's posts and then comment on what I thought I read. I have a reading comprehension problem"

-- plonk! (realaddress@hotmail.com), January 03, 2000.

-d...

I think Dale just honored your request, it aint over till its over..

http://hv.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id=002CtD

-- Helium (Heliumavid@yahoo.com), January 03, 2000.

Clickable Link to above

-- plonk! (realaddress@hotmail.com), January 03, 2000.

Read your answers back to yourselves in June, kids.

-- Jim Thompson (jimthompsonmd@attglobal.net), January 04, 2000.