( snip ) THATS THE MIXED MESSAGE offered at a U.N. conference on international preparedness for the year 2000 computer bug, held earlier this week  a mixed message being repeated by institutions around the nation, and around the world. The concern is that some computer programs, especially older ones, might fail when the date changes to 2000. Older programs were written to recognize only the last two digits of a year. As a result, such programs could read the digits 00 as 1900 instead of 2000. No country is immune. The U.N. conference drew officials from more than 170 countries. Delegates included experts responsible for checking on anything from computers that run banks and electric utilities, to the machines that keep airplanes flying, get food delivered and water purified. All aim to ensure that governments and businesses large and very small hum as usual on Jan. 1, 2000. Theyre also overseeing contingency plans. Early in the day, experts gave an optimistic assessment of Y2K readiness worldwide. It just wont be completely ready, they said. The Y2K problem is too global, too complex, and too systemic to be totally solved on time, said Carlos Braga, head of the World Banks Y2K program. ( end snip )

url .http://www.msnbc.com/news/283246.asp#BODY

-- kevin (innxxs@yahoo.com), July 13, 1999

Answers

"The Y2K problem is too global, too complex, and too systemic..."

Pretty good statement on why Y2K is going to be BAD!

-- Nabi Davidson (nabi7@yahoo.com), July 13, 1999.

Thanks, for the post.

Diane

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), July 13, 1999.

At Yardeni's T-200 Y2K Action Day Conference on June 14th, Braga admitted, after repeated questioning by Yardeni, that about one hundred countries got started "too late" on Y2K. That does not mean, of course, that they are all going down in a heap next year, but it does suggest some serious problems coming down the global pipeline.

-- Don Florence (dflorence@zianet.com), July 13, 1999.

Nabi:

You're the insider here. Are we close enough for you to start qualifying 'bad' yet? Does it mean some countries will be unable to perform domestic and international transactions? If so, what effect does that have on countries that don't suffer such serious problems? So you have any good feel yet for who gets hurt, and how badly, and in what ways?

-- Flint (flintc@mindspring.com), July 13, 1999.