Behind the Headlines: the bug is alive and well, claim Y2K gurus

Key experts claim that many firms could still suffer death by a thousand cuts from the millennium bug even though there has been little sign of disruption in UK businesses so far this year.

In Silicon's first Behind the Headlines programme of the New Year, Gwynneth Flower, managing director of Action 2000, and Karl Fielder, Y2K guru and CEO of software outfit GMT, both claimed it's too early for industry to breath a collective sigh of relief.

Gwynneth Flower, managing director of Action 2000, said: "We always said it was wrong to focus on the 31st of December. The bug problems struck businesses before the 31st and is doing so continuously now and will continue for quite some little time to come."

Fielder added: "We are still waiting to see what the effect will be. There are problems out there."

While one survey claimed there had been only 67 major instances of the bug striking across the world, Flower preferred to focus on the more minor - but potentially equally significant - incidents, and added that the UK was right to spend as much money as it did preparing for the new millennium. "If the UK hadn't prepared [properly], there would've been chaos," she said.

For the full panel discussion, see Silicon.com's Year 2000 Channel www.silicon.com/a35092

-- It's Me (Not@here.com), January 17, 2000

Answers

I think you're absolutely right! In fact, when I was in Safeway last night, all the registers locked up because the computer system that runs the entire store decided that it was time to close the store's accounts for the night.

It was absolutely horrible! Everyone had to put their frozen foods back, in fear that they'd thaw out. Fortunately, panic did not ensue, mainly because, for some unexplainable reason, the power to the refrigerators was still operating somewhat normally.

I suppose the problem could've been the girl operating the machine didn't know what she was doing, and I suppose that they could've cycled power on the machine and tried to recover from it's obviously- related Y2K lockup, but they're not working in grocery stores for the intellectual enlightenment.

-- Milquetoast the Y2K Bug (milque@toast.com), January 17, 2000.

I remember a story from England. When the cash registers went down, the store let everyone either have their cart loads for free, or pay a 10pound total if they had it on them.

-- Hokie (Hokie_@hotmail.com), January 17, 2000.

That's because the English know courtesy. I didn't know that, but if I would've, I would've asked them to do SOMETHING about it.

Thanks!

-- milquetoast the Y2K bug (milque@toast.com), January 17, 2000.