Y'all come up to Washington - appears all will be Y2K/OK

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Hearings on Y2K FOr informational purposes only

Congressional panel discussions upbeat at Y2K-readiness hearing

by Peter Lewis Seattle Times technology reporter

Deep into a three-hour congressional hearing yesterday on the region's Year 2000 readiness, Rep. Jim McDermott asked a GTE official about a 10-year-old AT&T telephone-answering machine he uses.

Would messages arriving after midnight Dec. 31 be date-stamped "1900"? the Seattle Democrat asked. More significantly, would the phone ring?

"You need to check with your vendor," replied Marilyn Hoggarth, GTE's public-affairs manager in Washington state. At that, most of the roughly 60 people in the hearing room - in the Henry Jackson Federal Building in downtown Seattle - burst out laughing.

And while Hoggarth smiled, too, the exchange exemplified one of the most maddening, and serious, aspects of the Year 2000 conversion process.

McDermott asked his question because Hoggarth had just finished testifying that one of her company's biggest challenges was explaining to the public the demarcation between the telephone network, for which GTE bears responsibility, and privately owned equipment, like McDermott's phone, for which it does not.

The distinction underscores the difficulty in assessing how things will ultimately play out, Y2K-wise, because governments, businesses and utilities can go only so far in guaranteeing that things will work. Everybody, it seems, depends on someone else, putting greater emphasis on contingency planning in case an important "data" partner or vendor falters.

The so-called Year 2000 problem stems from the practice of programmers decades ago to save relatively expensive computer memory by squishing four digits into two, dropping the "19" from the year field. As a result, experts fear, those computers and embedded systems may become confused and misread "2000" as "1900."

Counting litigation costs arising out of future liability claims, some analysts have placed the tab for fixing the problem and other activities at an astronomical $2 trillion.

Overall, there was an upbeat tone to yesterday's hearing, which featured 16 witnesses testifying in three panels representing government, utilities and business. McDermott and Rep. Jennifer Dunn, R-Bellevue, joined Rep. Steve Horn, the California Republican who chairs the subcommittee on Government Management, Information and Technology.

Horn has been holding hearings on the federal government's Y2K readiness since 1996. Two years ago, he started grading federal agencies on their progress in dealing with potential Y2K problems. In his most recent assessment, which came in June, he awarded an overall grade of B-, the highest government-wide score he has issued.

Based on the parade of witnesses testifying yesterday, it seemed state and local government and utilities would have scored higher. The only sour outlook was for small businesses.

Chris Hedrick, director of Washington state's Year 2000 office, said that, as of this week, 98 percent of the state's mission-critical computer-data systems had satisfactorily completed tests for Y2K compliance. "Those few programs that are not complete all have tested contingency plans in place to deal with any potential malfunctions," he said.

Also sounding optimistic were Marty Chakoian, director of Seattle's Year 2000 project office, who said fixes on 93 percent of the city's mission-critical systems are done, and Clif Burwell, King County's Y2K program manager, who said 88 percent of the county's are. Both men reported that work on embedded systems is not quite as far along, but only a very small percentage of such systems have required repair or replacement.

Interestingly, Burwell testified that King County prosecutors have advised him to avoid using the word "compliant." The lawyers prefer the word "ready," he said, apparently because it carries less weight, theoretically limiting the county's liability in case something goes wrong.

Representatives from the Bonneville Power Administration, Puget Sound Energy and Seattle City Light testified uniformly that the lights would stay on.

The only significantly negative note was sounded by Richard Bergeon, a consultant familiar with Y2K efforts of medium and small businesses. As many as 50 percent of small businesses may suffer Y2K failures, Bergeon testified, either because they can't afford to hire experts or because they figure there's no point in spending money on Y2K fixes if systems around them are going to fail anyway.

In prepared comments he submitted, Bergeon concluded:

"I suggest government start preparing the public, informing them reliably and with concern that the problem is real and that difficulty will be encountered. . . . This warning message can be delivered with a reassurance that any problems will be short-lived and that economically the U.S. will remain sound."

-- Same as B4 (NWphotog@Foxcomm.net), August 18, 1999

Answers

Extra! Extra! Read all about it!!

Interestingly, Burwell testified that King County prosecutors have advised him to avoid using the word "compliant." The lawyers prefer the word "ready," he said, apparently because it carries less weight, theoretically limiting the county's liability in case something goes wrong.

link please :-)

-- Deborah (infowars@yaho.com), August 18, 1999.


Here is the article http://www.seattletimes.com/news/business/html98/horn_19990818.html

-- Same as B4 (NWphotog@Foxcomm.net), August 18, 1999.

Same hype, different day.

-- anti-chainsaw (tree@hugger.com), August 18, 1999.

Heaven help us. Let's see, this is August, right?

"Deep into a three-hour congressional hearing yesterday on the region's Year 2000 readiness, Rep. Jim McDermott asked a GTE official about a 10-year-old AT&T telephone-answering machine he uses. "

Someone fetch the Congessman another crayon.

-- Lon Frank (lgal@exp.net), August 18, 1999.


I would think that if we were all to spend the time phoning the vendors of our numerous household goods, we would be stuck in a voicemail loop until the rollover...

-- Gia (laureltree7@hotmail.com), August 19, 1999.


Y'all DO NOT come up to Washington - It rains all the time and drizzels the rest. It's August and it is dreary and cloudy and cold today. It will depress you here. We will not run out of water because all we have to do is set a bucket outside and it will be filled with rainwater in an hour. Anything is better than living here!

appears all will be Y2K/OK

no, no, no that person is wrong, this is the last place you want to be! Go to California where the sun is!

-- Cherri (sams@brigadoon.com), August 19, 1999.


Too late, Cherri. Californians are headed north to the Emerald City in droves, bringing bad driving habits, a taste for rampant real estate development, and endless complaints about the rain to an espresso bar near you. There goes the neighborhood.

And what's this "y'all" stuff, by the bye? Folks in the Northwest don't use that term. You wouldn't by any chance be a (let's say it softly) transplant, would you? 8-}]

-- Mac (sneak@lurk.hid), August 19, 1999.


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