A continuing Mantra thru out these last few months has been--"No one really knows". This kept me researching and researching thinking that someone must know.

After reading the Dale Way essay it became very clear to me that people do know. And the information was made available to all of us on this forum.

When I contact corporations and ask how their remediation is going the constant answer is great!! Which left me holding back somewhat on my conviction to really crank up on 2weeks to 1month to 3 months to... that coupled with the ---"nobody knows".

In Mr. Way essay he sheds light on the single greatest factor involving Y2K and that is, everyone remediating independently of one another and when Humpty is put back together again it is the independent remediating that will cause severe challenges due to our inability to remediate uniformily across the gaps of interconnectedness. He especially makes note of huge systems like banking with 50 programs and 30 languages that is tied into so many other systems and all of them have been remediated independently without any standards set for the interconnectedness between entities!

I am not a programmer, but it is obvious to me that the technical infrastructure that has been constructed over the last 40years may be the most poorly planned (lol) least contemplated most fragile and dangerous infrastructure that Man has ever manifested. We have met the enemy and guess who it is?

-- d.b. (dciinc@aol.com), November 14, 1999

Answers

Now read Y2K and the Global Trading System (if you haven't already). Then crank up the preps a few more notches.

-- Linda (lwmb@psln.com), November 14, 1999.

d.b.:

You fail to notice that there have *never* been standards set (or followed) for the "interconnectedness between entitites." Surely you aren't going to conclude that *therefore*, they have never been able to talk to one another!

But if they've been talking for 40 years without standards, why do you assume that this same lack of standards will suddenly render such communication impossible? What will change to cause this?

You can rest assured that the current interfaces are being preserved with greatest care. In the isolated point-to-point cases where modifying an interface looks necessary, there has been negotiation, definition, and careful testing just like always. And indeed, the remediated code returned to production would fail *instantly* if the interfaces had changed a bit. Interface errors aren't the kind of error that will wait for rollover to show up.

-- Flint (flintc@mindspring.com), November 14, 1999.

Linda-

Thanks for the post, that was one I missed. But its all o.k. now right? LOL if it wasn't so damn frightening.

-- damn (karlacalif@aol.com), November 14, 1999.

Linda - you mentioned Y2K and the global trading system. I agree- it was an excellent report - and one that the smart money in financial markets around the world have been broadcasting ever since the article was published.

There is no doubt - there is nothing stock markets like better than the prospect of a shortage - especially with crude oil and any other multitudes of interruptions to supply chains mentioned in Y2K and the Global Trading system.

We can make a good case that this is why Wall Street - (the Nasdaq) and the All Ordinaries in Australia have been rising ahead of the occasion in what could be aptly described as the Y2K equivalent of the Cannonball Run.

May we live in interesting times - (that's what "they" said in 1939). Stay tuned.

cheers Pam.

-- Pamela J Lawrence (pamela01@tpg.com.au), November 15, 1999.