Subject:	*great news* for -bks-
Date:	1999/09/07
Author:	cory hamasaki <kiyoinc@ibm.XOUT.net>
	Posting History

Just saw an article in NEXIS, the WSJ might have picked it up.   Apparently the SEC or one of those stock market regulators gave brokers a deadline by which they had to issue legally binding "We're Ready for Y2K" letters.   The deadline passed and, well, 5 or 6, I forget how many, got their letters in.  That's the good news.   The bad news is that the letters said, they *will* be ready in a couple months.   I'll look for a web copy of the *good news* and stick it on my page and here.   cory hamasaki http://www.kiyoinc.com/current.html   By the way, Weiss just rated the Bank of America as mid-pack in the race to Y2K.  Just as I've been saying for two years.   -bks-, JEM, still lots of time to stock up on healthful grains, beans, rice.  But don't forget the beano(tm).   Legumes, now there's a word for you. 

-- a (a@a.a), September 07, 1999

Answers

Y2K CANNOT BE FIXED!

-- Jack (jsprat@eld.net), September 07, 1999.

How do u do that jack its hilarious.

-- stillLaughing (y2k@cannot.befixed), September 07, 1999.

I love it when you do that Jack. Neon reality.

-- Mike Lang (webflier@erols.com), September 07, 1999.

Go Jack Go !!!

Does it come in other colors ?

-- no talking please (breadlines@soupkitchen.gov), September 08, 1999.

Here you go: Y2k Cannot be fixed! How's that?

-- Steve Heller (stheller@koyote.com), September 08, 1999.

Hey - fix your font.

-- Dan G (earth_changes@hotmail.com), September 08, 1999.

Ahhhh! That's better!

-- Y2KGardener (gardens@bigisland.net), September 08, 1999.

ROFLMFAO we all need the laugh.. keep it up

-- Stacia (ClassyCwgl@aol.com), September 08, 1999.

ok...how's this

-- blinker (@ .), September 08, 1999.

Try to fix Y2K here

-- Dog Gone (layinglow@rollover.now), September 08, 1999.

Hey, stop the damn blinking already!!!

-- Dog Gone (layinglow@rollover.now), September 08, 1999.

Sheesh!

Remember to end your blockquotes and your blinks please!

Diane

(HTML Cleanup Committee)

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), September 08, 1999.

BTW, seems as good a place as any to post. Perhaps Cory can confirm.

Diane

Sent around on the Cynthias Y2K Forum list...

Subject: an IT expert Speaks
Date: Wed, 08 Sep 1999 06:58:52 -0700

I saw this posted on another list and thought it very revealing information. I have intentionally left the person's name and e-mail off of it, it was posted on the DC-Y2K-WRP list.

- G

---------------------------------------
I was looking for the parameters that you would use to define an IT person/expert like: 20 years experience, or 5+ years in at least two industries, or a PHD in data processing, etc.

Assuming you would consider me an IT Expert here is some insider stuff and opinions:

My current employer decided (the business partners, not the IT management) in 1982 to not build y2k compliant code. Our rationale:
1. We estimated saving many millions of dollars in disk space, tape volumes, and CPU capacity.
2. We thought that we would replace the systems in 10-15 years and could fix y2k in the new systems

Our actions since 1982:
1. We started some y2k remediation as early as 1989.
2. We appointed a Senior Vice President for y2k remediation in 1997.
3. We report status to the CEO, CIO, CFO, etc. monthly and have for over 1 year.
4. We went full blown (100-200 IT people in 2000 person IT shop) in 1996 to fix our y2k problems.
5. We still have over 100 IT people working on y2k remediation.
6. We are replacing several electrical components at our head quarters (15,000+ employees) this month to make them y2k compliant. I expect their will be more like this in the coming months.
7. We started a city/regional y2k working group 2 years ago.
8. We have briefed several federal agencies (and a few foreign governments) on our remediation techniques.
9. We had a bombshell dropped on us by a major brokerage software provider Dec 1998 and have committed 30 IT people full time in 1999 to recreate and remediate the system it had replaced.
10. We ran a business recovery scenario two weeks ago that included utility failures. We did well, but not perfect.
11. We now have a software freeze that prohibits all production changes (except regulatory and fixes) until Feb 2000.
12. All IT personnel are on call beginning 12/26/1999 through 1/15/ 2000 and no vacations are allowed.
13. We have not told any employees to prepare for outages or problems.
14. Most people working the y2k project at our company have been stocking and preparing since 1998.
15. Many people working the y2k project have just recently shifted their opinions from EOTWAWKI to big stock market crash and depression/ deep recession.
16. I have some very capable friends (with extensive IT and business experience) that have never thought y2k would be an issue.
17. I heard from an IT person at a Southwest grocery chain that they are worried about the ability of freight services to deliver goods.
18. I have a friend in Dallas, Tx whose neighbor works in the field for an electric utility company. The neighbor bought a cord of wood to make it through the next winter.
19. I have two brother-n-laws that own businesses. I can't convince either of them to stock up on critical supplies.
20. I haven't been able to convince any family members to move their money out the stock market.
21. I haven't been able to convince any family members to stock essentials.
22. I have a friend that works for global consulting firm (that everybody would recognize if named) who led the y2k remediation efforts at a very large American bank. He says the bank is toast.
23. A friend from a large computer company (again everybody would recognize if named) told me two years ago that one of the largest Japanese enterprises was willing to pay any price to get a critical system repaired by the vendor. Response from the vendor: can't be done in time, replace the system. Response by the Japanese company: Can't replace in time.
24. Any Fortune 500 company that hasn't taken y2k as seriously as we have (devoted 5-10% of its IT shop for 3-4 years) is going to have many problems managing cash flow and inventories.
25. We've experienced and fixed many y2k problems. If they had all occurred within the same week we would've had a big mess on our hands.
26. NOW A PREDICTION: 9/9/99 isn't going to be a big problem. Many companies used a 'nines record' to indicate the end of a file. Some still use it. But, I've never seen a program (in approximately 25 years) that read a record then checked to see the record key was a valid date. I've seen dates used as part of a key, but never as the whole key. So, the programs I've seen do something like this:
* read a record
* if the record key is '9999' then close the file and end the program
* if the record key isn't '9999' then process the record
* read the next record
* etc

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), September 08, 1999.

Now, where is Flint. Let's see you rotate this.

You are not a Jedi yet Flint.

-- Will (sibola@hotmail.com), September 08, 1999.

Wait.. I wanna try the blinky thing:

NOTCompliant

-- Linda (lwmb@psln.com), September 09, 1999.