I think embedded systems are starting to slowly fail, the oil industry is now running into some y2k problems of its own in 4 of its oil refineries. The death by a thousand cuts scenario by Hamasaki may still come to pass. I don't think that Cory or Yourdon would stake their reputations as computer professionals to write about y2k if it wasn't serious. So I think Charlotte's web is a hard look at the magnitude of the problem and it appears that the more you try to fix it when failures happen, the more failures and problems its going to bring to those systems in the long run till they collaspe in on themselves that is basically all what Hamasaki is trying to say, whether that happens, will depend on how much failure resides in the systems after all the changes that have been made to it. Now how do you deal with a system that keeps filling up the buffer to overflow it?

-- Brent Nichols (b-nichol@ihug.co.nz), January 05, 2000

Answers

Is "the more you try to fix it when failures happen" a way of pointing the finger at the tech's? Cause it doesn't make much sense to me otherwise. Granted, a few dim wits may have screwed up their systems with incompetent testing, especially if inhouse guys were not granted a budget to receive special training or hire consultants..But that I hope would be the exception. Clearly the pro's have made this transition better, not worse, as a whole.

Is this finger pointing based on the stamina of unremediated systems abroad? If so, then are we sure those systems are comparable to our own?

-- Hokie (Hokie_@hotmail.com), January 05, 2000.

Way to rehash some pointless speculation. WAIT AND SEE.

-- Servant (public_service@yahoo.com), January 05, 2000.

So what if you have a paper cut hear or there. Ever walked into some 6 foot tall saw grass? Ever tried to run threw it? You could get about 1000 small cuts on your arms and legs. So you get the Big Box of Band-Aids. Not a big problem, just lots of small ones. You don't bleed much, it is just bothersome, very bothersome.

-- one thousand (band@aid.com), January 05, 2000.

This phrase "Death by a thousand paper cuts" has legs, and you're going to see it a lot, and if you're a "doomer", it will probably sustain you for a month or so. It has no teeth, no real basis in reality. If you had any idea how many "paper-cuts" your average fortune 500 company or government agency sees every day you would know that the skin there is already pretty thick.

Please try to have a happy new year before the year gets old!

-- Bemused (and_amazed@you.people), January 05, 2000.

You deal with the system the same way fishermen deal with their nets (or used to, just in case it's now cheaper just to trash them and get new ones). You find each broken string, and sew in a replacement. If the net's badly chewed up, this may delay your next fishing trip.

A net fails only if the rate of damage exceeds the rate at which you can repair it, for long enough that a lot of the breaks join up into a runaway tear. Prior to that point, it still works, but somewhat less well than if perfect.

Economies survive WARS and rebuild, for heaven's sake. If a lot of lights had gone out on the 1st or the 3rd, I'd be very worried. They didn't. What's has gone wrong will be fixed in the usual way. It remains to see only if we'll notice damage to the economy as a whole that's clearly attributable to Y2K rather than whatever else next goes wrong in the world.

Ed described the problem as "1000 gnats, 100 mosquitoes, ten wasps and a rattlesnake". Divide by five, and the rattlesnake probably doesn't show. Which is probably where we are, in a room containing various stinging insects in quantities as yet unclear (but less than previously feared).

-- Nigel (nra@naxwell.ph.kcl.ac.uk), January 05, 2000.

Listing listing listing -rw-r--r-- 1 root other 37 Feb 11 06:45 tts0222.lis.000211 -rw-r--r-- 1 root other 37 Feb 14 06:45 tts0222.lis.000214 -rw-r--r-- 1 root other 37 Feb 15 06:45 tts0222.lis.000215 -rw-r--r-- 1 root other 37 Feb 16 06:45 tts0222.lis.000216 -rw-r--r-- 1 root other 37 Feb 17 06:45 tts0222.lis.000217 -rw-r--r-- 1 root other 37 Feb 18 06:45 tts0222.lis.000218

-- Test (test@test.test), February 25, 2000.

listing listing

-rw-r--r--   1 root     other         37 Feb 11 06:45 
tts0222.lis.000211
-rw-r--r--   1 root     other         37 Feb 14 06:45 
tts0222.lis.000214
-rw-r--r--   1 root     other         37 Feb 15 06:45 
tts0222.lis.000215
-rw-r--r--   1 root     other         37 Feb 16 06:45 
tts0222.lis.000216
-rw-r--r--   1 root     other         37 Feb 17 06:45 
tts0222.lis.000217
-rw-r--r--   1 root     other         37 Feb 18 06:45 
tts0222.lis.000218

-- test (test@test.test), February 25, 2000.