Two interesting articles today with extremely differing points of view.

In this one, Intel's CEO calls y2k a media creation and foresees a non-event:

http://www.techweb.com/se/directlink.cgi?IWK19990726S0080

And over in this corner, the Senate is given the info that y2k could pose a humanitarian disaster:

http://www.techweb.com/se/directlink.cgi?IWK19990726S0030

For the undecided like me I can only pose this question to all 'camp' mentalities: Do you seriously want me to take a side in all of this?

Mr.Badco

-- Bad Company (johnny@shootingstar.com), July 26, 1999

Answers

Certainly whether you take a side or not is up to you. Many people who work in the data processing industry have come to believe that the world is facing a very serious situation - one that could even develop into a catastrophe.

I don't think it is as much a question of taking sides as it is of being prudent. If there had been an earthquake in the Pacific and there was a possibility that a 100 foot tsunami were heading toward you, would you prepare. Would you move to higher ground until the time that the wave that was predicted had passed. Even with tsunamis, it is not normally known "for sure" how big or how bad it might be, or even for sure "if" it would be. The main question as far as I am concerned, is what if you don't prepare and you are wrong.

-- Jean (jmacmanu@bellsouth.net), July 26, 1999.

Take a side -- Mr. Badco?

This isn't about taking si-------..........wait a minute.

Got a better question for you.

Do you like to eat?

-- INVAR (gundark@sw.net), July 26, 1999.

Well stated Jean.

What is it? Money? Appearing foolish? The need to be right? I don't get it. Is it paralysis because opinions are everywhere on y2k? So what...PREPARE. It will come in handy for any emergency.

-- BB (peace2u@bellatlantic.net), July 26, 1999.

EMERGING MARKETS-Exodus in fear of Y2K?

Or

Countdown 2000
Money managers aren't hearing Y2K worries

Conway Daly
CP

Y2K? Not to worry.

That appears to be the attitude of many people in Canada's investment community over the millennium bug when it comes to where your money is invested and the industry's readiness.

They say only a shrinking number of investors fear the computerized world will crash at midnight Dec. 31.

In the meantime, most Canadian investors aren't panicking. In fact, they're not even asking to be reassured.

"We've had very few questions," said Helen Corrigan of Rothenberg and Rothenberg, a Montreal stockbroker.

"I would imagine that as we get into November, we'll have people calling and wanting reassurance that we've done everything we've had to do. But so far it's been very low-key," she said.

Corrigan and others in the stock brokerage and mutual fund businesses say the right protective measures are in place. And they've heard little or nothing from any clients expressing Y2K worries.

Bob Darling of the Investors Group, Canada's biggest mutual-fund company, agrees with that upbeat outlook.

"It's not going to be the end of the world," he said in an interview from the Winnipeg head office of Investors.

"By Feb. 1, we'll all be looking back and saying, 'What the heck was that all about?' I think the public is pretty well inured to it."

Darling said that about five months ago, he began conducting specific Y2K seminars for Investors' client groups.

"I have noted an almost linear decline in interest out there," he said. "It's becoming less and less of a concern."

He said he expects to see a replay of the scenario that accompanied the launching of a single European currency: despite doom-and-gloom predictions, the euro went off with no major hitches.

Geoff Whitlam, chief operating officer of Yorkton Securities Inc., said few individuals have been asking "whether they ought to liquidate portfolios and then hopefully reassemble those portfolios in the new year.

"To some extent, it would be a self-fulfilling prophecy," Whitlam said in an interview from Toronto. If everybody in Canada tries to sell all their securities by Dec. 31, "we know what's going to happen to the market."

But Whitlam noted that individual investors already come under the wing of the Canadian Investor Protection Fund.

Even with computer-conducted buying and selling, the industry still has paper records for every transaction, he said, and physical possession of stock market assets is insured by dealers.

"I think most clients know that the best place to keep securities is at the dealer, not under the mattress," said Whitlam.

Jean-Guy Desjardins, chairperson and chief executive officer of Talvest Investment Fund, says Y2K could be a blessing in disguise.

He told a Montreal conference in May that bracing for the problem has boosted economic growth over the last two years.

"There's no doubt the millennium bug will help to increase the world's wealth in the coming years," said Desjardins.

While markets in North America and Western Europe are Y2K-ready, he said, there will be losses in less-prepared regions including some emerging markets in Latin America and Southeast Asia.

"However, it will produce a formidable buying opportunity for those who aren't already positioned in these markets and who will have a chance to profit from these developments," he predicted.

As for the stockbrokers, Corrigan said they have been required to prepare for any eventualities. They have a contingency plan for the worst-case scenario, such as if phones and faxes don't work.

"Our whole industry has been scrutinized for the last 24 months on this."

-- (M@rket.watching), July 26, 1999.

Money managers aren't hearing Y2K worries

-- (M@arket.watching), July 26, 1999.

What a minute, Bad Company has a very good point here and these are the very questions that need to be answered. Here you have the CEO of Intel saying one thing and the government saying another. Why should I believe the CEO? I think he's just saying what he's saying because he's the CEO and has to make his stock holders happy, and he likes to remain employed. When has the government warned us about anything beforehand? How many coverups can you name that the government was involved in? And when has the government ever told us the truth (besides anouncing that your taxes are going up?) Some of you wonder why people just don't get it, it's because they are fed two different lines. Are two different lines being fed to us to confuse us? Frankly, I don't think the majority of the population really cares what is going on with Y2K. All they care about is eating, sleeping and entertainment. Some of us have prepared because maybe we were brought up to always think the worse. I have an aunt that saves EVERYTHING because she thinks the worse will always happen. I'm sure we all know someone like that. I don't blame you Bad Company for not taking a side, I only blame the media for not reporting the truth--if there is any truth left.

-- ~~~~~ (~~~~@~~~~.com), July 26, 1999.

Do I think the financial companies are remediated? Yes, more or less. Do I think that will be the key to the markets? No. What a stupid thought. Like duh, corporate profits are going to crash and burn. Helllooooo.

-- Mara Wayne (MaraWAyne@aol.com), July 26, 1999.

Badco, I agree that the media is comming on from every direction. The date is upon us and what are we going to belive? What are we going to do? I'm going to recommend that we decide quickly and DO something. Unless you happen to decide to do nothing (you don't have to do anything to do nothing so it dosen't matter if you do or don't). I'm done so I can sit here and talk about it. It only took me 8 months to get the preparations I decided on completed. My kids were my primary motivation. Tommorrow the media will have yet another viewpoint. The time is short.

-- Army Girl (aGirl@ag.com), July 26, 1999.

How much did Intel spend to correct this "non-event"?

Ray

-- Ray (ray@totacc.com), July 26, 1999.

Thanks for the answers, folks. I did not make myself very clear with the original question about camps, so let me expound a little. Clearly, the person who puts a lot of thought in all of this MUST inherently move beyond the name calling associated with camp mentality. Preparations? Yes, certainly. I have a few months of food and water and here in the northeast, anything calling for more than that will be of catastrophic proportions anyway. No matter my feelings on the subject, to not prepare for y2k is foolhearty, at best.

My original point in all of this was how 'forces' have made this a camp issue when it is beyond all of that. And my original point wished to call into question the 'news' and just how much is worthwhile and how much is reliant upon the relating of someone's opinion. In most cases, the rendering of opinion has, in fact passed for news reporting. That's not the case, and it's led a lot of us down the primrose path.

In the end, how can anyone hope to have some grasp on the situation? I submit that no one can---no news reporter, no writer, no broadcaster....hell, not even any industry insider. Since perception is reality, victories over 'the bug' will give rise to optimism, while one person's dealings in a less-than-stellar remediation effort will bring the opposite. We are all at square one.

These articles merely illustrated it for me.

Regards. I look forward to joining in more discussion....but never 'camp' debates.

Mr.Badco

-- Bad Company (johnny@shootingstar.com), July 26, 1999.

Mr Badco:

The continued extreme range of opinions is disturbing, no doubt about it. How can people as knowledgeable as Yourdon expect such a devastating event, while people as knowledgeable as the director of y2k research for Gartner Group expect no big deal? Presumably these people are both genuine heavyweights, both wired into the reality of the situation as much as anyone on Earth. It just doesn't seem to make any sense at all.

There are certainly times when I wish I could adopt the common approach of ignoring or rejecting anything I don't agree with, so that I'd have much more confidence in any expectations I come up with. Calling people names is ever so much easier than thinking about what they have to say.

-- Flint (flintc@mindspring.com), July 26, 1999.

Flint,

"It just doesn't seem to make any sense at all."

Welcome aboard my friend. Where the hell do we go?

Not really asking, just take care of you & yours. Me as a SoCal type a 3-5 will be a 7 locally. Ocean to the west, Mexico south and the desert east we should be fun to watch.

-- Carlos (riffraff1@cybertime.net), July 26, 1999.

Flint- I can remember a time, perhaps three months ago, when the Gartner group was not making happy faces about the Y2K problem. The same can be said of Mr. DeJager and FEMA and who knows how many more. Their "seeing the light" seems almost religious. Government shills, all of them. Useless bastards.

-- Gia (laureltree7@hotmail.com), July 27, 1999.

Weiss rates Intel Y2K readiness low

-- (trend@watcher.now), July 27, 1999.

"Intel's CEO"

Wow, I wonder what Andy Grove, Intel's founder, and original CEO would say about this. I kinda remember him making a few GI remarks, but don't hold me to it!

But, he ain't the boss anymore. Not sure what he's doing, but I think "semi-retired?" Kinda like all us "35 years ago" geeks...

My opinion only, the NEW CEO is a junior level punk, that doesn't have even a faint clue! His mom stuck a microprocessor in his mouth to shut him up!

I guess I can get away with this without violating my truce, since he's not a forum member: HE IS A FREAKING MORON!!!!!

In other words...

I'm going with the Senate on this one. Boy, do I hate to say that.....

<:)=

-- Sysman (y2kboard@yahoo.com), July 27, 1999.

Study predicts millennium exodus from Europe stocks

-- (another@market.watcher), July 27, 1999.

And by the way, I think the truth lies at about 6.5 - I've been looking real hard at a plain 6.0 for qutte a while, but I'm not sold yet. Almost (spin), but not yet... <:)=

PS - And yes, I do follow the "work being done" (Flint).

Signed, Sysman, Systems Programmer... ... .. . .

-- Sysman (y2kboard@yahoo.com), July 27, 1999.

No doubt about it, sigh, the "work's being done."

Question: Is it being done fast enough to avert systemic problems in the global economy? Answer: probably not.

Question: Will these systemic problems be bad? Answer: Certainly for some people.

Question: How many people? Answer: Nobody knows for certain. (Do you want to rely on luck or do you want to take steps that give you more flexibility for all the outcomes?)

Question: Is the mass media being manipulated by people afraid to lose their money? Answer: almost certainly.

Question: Is it possible for y2k social problems to become precipitous, to snowball out of control very rapidly? For all kinds of nuts to decide that it is their time for the 15 minutes of fame? Answer: yes, and almost certainly yes. Mass hysteria has been documented time and time again throughout history, across all ethnic and cultural boundaries. Even without the computer problems, 99 to 00 is going to be weird.

-- coprolith (coprolith@rocketship.com), July 27, 1999.

Flint said: "There are certainly times when I wish I could adopt the common approach of ignoring or rejecting anything I don't agree with."

But then you'd feel surrounded, huh?

-- Vic (Rdrunner@internetwork.net), July 27, 1999.