Lucent technologies and MERLIN, and a FIVE YEAR LAMINATED LETTER

greenspun.com : LUSENET : TimeBomb 2000 (Y2000) : One Thread

Mrs Driver relented on our agreement ( I had 2 options, one of which was a 10 day log off the other doesn't bear consideration) and asked me to post the following. We BOTH think it's hilarious, and we thought y'all would enjoy it We PARTICULARLY like the way it came laminated, and punched to hang on the existing LUCENT TECHNOLOGIES mainframe box. The ONLY changes or snips are as follows:
I have snipped the person's name, and Mrs Driver's company, as well as the phone number for the project and the programming options for the MERLIN system. ALL of my comments are in parentheses and are of more of an editorial nature designed to save me some typing. I have added NO EMPHASIS ANYWHERE!! All of the underlining and bolding is present on the document.
ENJOY! Page 1


(Lucent Logo Upper Right)
IL00097741128 - PTP:00113B November 2, 1999
Telecom Manager
XXXXXX Corporation
NNNN Union Ave
Cleveland, OH 44105

Addendum To Year 2000 Workaround Instructions. Revision Enclosed It's important
that you read this letter and act upon the information it contains, as the operation of your
Lucent technologies voice mail system may be affected.



Dear Valued Customer,

In our previous Year 2000 correspondence in April, regarding your Lucent Technologies
MERLIN MAIL . Voice Messaging System, we provided a set of administrative workaround
instructions to keep your voice mail system functioning into the year 2000Enclosed is an addendum
and revision to those instructions, laminated for your convenience.

If you are no longer using your Lucent technologies MERLIN Mail Voice Messaging System,
no action is required and you can disregard this letter.

If you have any questions or encounter any difficulties utilizing these workaround instructions on
your MERLIN MAIL voice Messaging System on or after 1/1/2000, please call our National
Service Assistance Center toll free at 1 800 nnn-nnnn, Prompt n, from 8 AM through 5PM MT.

Please retain this information with your system documentation. You will need to follow
these instructions to set the Date and Time if your system reboots after December 312, 1999.
These instructions supercede those previously provided.


As always, thank you for using Lucent Technologies products and services.

Sincerely,

(signature)
XXXX XXXXXXXX
Year 2000 Program Director
Lucent Technologies - Business Communications Systems

(year 2000 readiness disclaimer verbiage) (Laminated Page, side 1)



(Lucent Logo upper right)
(centered) MERLIN Mail . Voice Messaging System


Primary Workaround Instructions


You will need to follow these steps to set the Date and Time for your MERLIN MAIL Voice Messaging
System, as noted in your system manual, each time your voice messaging system is rebooted on or after
January 1, 2000:

1. Call your voice Mail system and Log into the Voice Mail as System Administrator;

2. Press n to access Voice Mail Administration. (the System Administrator's menu plays);

3. Press n to program the Schedule;

4. Press n toprogram the date and time;
5. The system will direct you to enter the date using the following method, mm/dd/yy (eg 01/01/00);
IF after entering the current month, day and year, the system does not accept the 2-digit year starting
with "0", THEN use the Date Determination Table on the back to determine the correct month, day and
year to enter. (The system year is transparent to your voice mail users, but is utilized internally to
assign the correct day of the week.)

6. You may enter a n to re-enter or a *# to accept the date;

7. Enter the time as hh/mm;

8. The system will ask you to enter a 1 for AM or a 2 for PM; and

9. You may enter a n to re-enter or a *# to accept the time.



(REVERSE SIDE OF LAMINATED SHEET. THIS IS DONE IN 2 COLUMNS and I'm NOT going to try to table it in HTML as I ain't a HTML GURU)

Date Determination Table:

If you encounter the inability to set the year "00", "01", rtc. When you attempted Step 5 of the primary Workaround Instructions, here are the steps you will need to follow to set the Date for your MERLIN MAIL
Voice Messaging System, each time your system is rebooted after December 31, 1999.
For each of the power outage situations shown below, once the date is changed, it must be changed on each
subsequent date noted to keep the day of the week logic correct.
The time must also be reset following Step 7 of the Primary Workaround Instructions.

(Table begins here so imagine it.)
If power outage occurs 1/1/2000 to 2/28/2000:Set month and day to current date, set year to "94"
THEN if no further power outage occurs:On 2/29/2000, reset date to "02/28/95"
THEN if no further power outage occurs: On 3/2/2001, reset date to "03/01/90"
THEN if no further power outage occurs: On 3/1/2003, reset date to "03/01/97"
THEN if no further power outage occurs: On 2/29/2004, reset date to "02/28/93"

If power outage occurs on 2/29/2000: set date to "02/28/95" (repeats as above)
If power outage occurs 3/1/2000 to 12/31/2000: THENSet month and day to current date, set year to "95" (repeats as above)
If ppower outage occurs 1/1/2001 to 2/28/2001: Set month and date to current date, set year to"96" (repeats as above)
If power outage occurs 3/1/2001 to 12/31/2001: Set month and day to current date, set year to "90" (repeats as above)
If power outage occurs 1/1/2002 to 12/31/2002 Set month and date to current date, dset year to"91" (repeats as above) If power outage occurs 1/1/2003 to 2/28/2003: Set month and day to current date and set year to "92" (repeats as above)
If power outage occurs 3/1/2003 to 12/31/2003: Set month and day to current date, set year to"97" (repeats as above)
If power outage occurs 1/1/2004 to 2/28/2004: Set month and day to current date and set year to "98" (repeats as above
If power outage occurs on 2/29/2004: Set date to "2/28/93"
If power outage occurs 3/1/2004 to 12/31/2004: Set month and day to current date and set year to "93"
If power outage occurs 1/1/2005 to 12/31/2005: Set month and date to current date, set year to "94"





This was issued because Lucent could NOT GIVE A FIRM DATE for the delivery of the many thousands of dollars worth of box which will be 2000 compliant. The BEST GUESS they are giving is some time the next 6 weeks, but NO GUARANTEES!! They won't even guarantee a year of delivery.
Thought y'all would enjoy this. HOPEFULLY IT FORMATTED so you can read it.


Chuck, a night driver

-- Chuck, a night driver (rienzoo@en.com), November 11, 1999

Answers

Break out the pink pads and ink pens.

-- Bill (y2khippo@yahoo.com), November 11, 1999.

So that's what they call a workaround!! :)

-- (lurker@lurker.com), November 11, 1999.

Thanks, Chuck. A fine example of fix-on-failure.

Boy, do I feel better knowing the fine folks at Merlin have the Y2K problem solved. I'm SURE that they have reported upward that all the Merlin system are now Y2K READY!

I get to feeling down and then, gosh, some great news like this comes along. It just gives me warm fuzzies all over.

Gonna start selling off all the spam tomorrow.

-Greybear

-- Get Spam!

-- Greybear (greybear@home.com), November 11, 1999.


Chuck,

Was it a typo on your part, or did the cover letter really say "...if your system reboots after December 312, 1999."???

The first set of instructions looks typical of the VM systems that I've dealt with, and really isn't all that frightening. The reset dates just give you the right day of the week.

Hopefully, the world can limp along with these kinds of work arounds. Of course, woe to the company techie who fails to attach the sheet to the box, and two years later after he or she is long gone, there is a system failure! The replacement techie will get blamed and beaten up by people who freak out when their messages are mis-stamped!

-- (pshannon@inch.com), November 11, 1999.


LOL. Can you imagine the workarounds at IRS?

-- a (a@a.a), November 11, 1999.


I am currently staring at a bug in another small phone PABX that will cause a warm reset on rollover. Now I'm pointing at it. I could fix it*, but we've decided at a corporate level not to go through all the bother of rolling out a service fix, when the next version (due Q2 1900, sorry, 2000) will fix it anyway. Let me just make that clear: we are going to shut the stable door four or five months after the horse has bolted, and put a rollover fix into a product that won't go into service until after the rollover. What a lark!

I am geniunely sorry, but I can't identify the product, as it would effectively identify me, and I'm basically a coward. To be honest, there are only a few installations of the effected version worldwide, it's not a civilisation killer. But it scares me that we don't even care. The effected customers will be told at the last minute. Which is nice.

* if(date_diff < 0) { date_diff += 31536000 ; }

-- Joe Blow (public_service@yahoo.com), November 11, 1999.


Take 100 typical corprate users.

50 (maybe more) will not read the message, get the message (but them lose it), misfile it, or not have it available when needed. Of those who lost it, 50% will borrow a copy from somebody else's desk, and some of these will lose both the original and found copy.

Of those who can locate the message when needed, 50% will try to comply - the first time it needs rebooting.

Of these trying to follow the procedure, 90% will tie up the tech assist office (or the resident computer guru in the local office) to actually re-re-redo the procedure. 3 in 100 who try will get it right the first time. 3 in 100 who try will screw up the whole system somehow. the remaining 4 will keep trying - and keep failing for the next four weeks.

The second time the system needs rebooting, only the 3 who could do it the first time will succeed. The 4 who kept trying will not realize it still doesn't work

The 90% who couldn't get through to tech help/resident guru will give up.

The system - if it survives the 3% who screwed it up completely, will nevr be the same again.

There is no way more than 1 in 100 typical users will

-- Robert A. Cook, PE (Marietta, GA) (cook.r@csaatl.com), November 11, 1999.


WUUPS!! Thought I caught 'em all!! "312" is truly "31"

C

-- Chuck, a night driver (rienzoo@en.com), November 11, 1999.


Thanks Chuck.

Details, details.

(Now "attend to" Mrs. D... and thank her too!)

;-D

Diane

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), November 11, 1999.


Robert,

ROFL! Thank you for that brilliant dose of reality.

Sincerely, Stan Faryna

-- Stan Faryna (faryna@groupmail.com), November 11, 1999.



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