From my employer's benefits newsletter today:

"Year 2000 Compliance of the Pension Plan

Aon Consulting Limited, our pension actuaries, advisers and administrators, have assured us that whilst they cannot give any guarantee or warranty of Year 2000 Compliance, their administration systems and supplies have been rigorously tested for Year 2000 readiness."

The subject line isn't hyperbole. Note "rigorously tested", not "successfully tested". This isn't a casual statement, this has been vetted by a legal department. Read what they say, not what they want you to infer.

In other news: I have just been told I'm expected to fly from Britain to Canada on the 9th of January for a 1 week business thingy. I didn't even try to protest, it would have been futile. Might be a different story closer to that date. :(

-- Colin MacDonald (roborogerborg@yahoo.com), December 06, 1999

Answers

You missed another equivocation.

They cannot assure you of *compliance* -- and the tests (of unknown outcome) were for *readiness*.

The Compliant Vs. Ready debate has been hashed out ad nauseum. Suffice it to say that they are not synonyms for each other, and that while "compliance" is something that is fairly well defined, "readiness" is a waffle-term that appeared on the horizon once it became apparent that there was no way that compliance would be attained. "Readiness" means whatever the outfit using the word *wants* it to mean. The only thing you can probably assume is that it *doesn't* mean "compliant".

-- Ron Schwarz (rs@clubvb.com.delete.this), December 06, 1999.

Doesn't "ready" mean "we have flashlights, and pens and paper for manual workarounds"? [just kidding.. mostly]

-- Linda (lwmb@psln.com), December 06, 1999.

Yeah, but Colin, they used my favorite Brit word! "WHILST"! I LOVE that word!

Sorry, on a more serious note, that letter would NOT make me feel comfortable at all. Go to a higher up and ask them w/a totally straight face if this letter was supposed to make you feel better.

Hey if things are bad enough your flight will be cancelled anyway.

-- preparing (preparing@home.com), December 06, 1999.