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U.S. Sees Minor Computer Glitches on First Work Day of 2000

One of Campbell Soup Co.'s Godiva chocolate shops reported that a year 2000 computer glitch caused a cash register to stop working, one of the few disruptions reported as the U.S. headed back to work in the new year. More...

Europeans Go to Work as Normal as Millennium Bug Fails to Bite

Financial exchanges, central banks, companies and governments across Europe went about their business much like any other Monday after the weekend date change resulted in few year 2000 computer problems. More...

Latin American Markets, Companies Say No Y2K Glitches

Stock, commodities and futures markets across Latin America reported no disruptions on the first business day of the new year, dispelling concern over a yearend computer bug. More...

Cologne Savings Bank Clients Grappled With `Numerical Cocktail'

Stadtsparkasse Koeln, one of Germany's biggest state-owned savings banks, said some customers grappled with a ``numerical cocktail'' when accessing their home-banking accounts on Dec. 31. More...

-- Hokie (Hokie_@hotmail.com), January 04, 2000

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U.S. Sees Minor Computer Glitches on First Work Day of 2000 By Jonathan Cox U.S. Sees Minor Computer Glitches on First Work Day of 2000

Washington, Jan. 3 (Bloomberg) -- One of Campbell Soup Co.'s Godiva chocolate shops reported that a year 2000 computer glitch caused a cash register to stop working, one of the few disruptions reported as the U.S. headed back to work in the new year.

Other problems reported today involved the inability of U.S. gun dealers to register buyers electronically, two power outages in Pakistan and the failure of a mechanism in a kidney dialysis machine in Scotland. Some small businesses also are probably having minor problems and aren't reporting to the government, said John Koskinen, chair of the President's Council on the Year 2000 conversion. ``What's most important is nobody is noticing them,'' Koskinen said. ``It demonstrates that there were going to be glitches, but most of them wouldn't be noticeable.''

U.S. business and government have reported mostly minor problems associated with the 2000 glitch since the new year began, such as printing the wrong date on a bill or calculating charges based on 1900 rather than 2000.

At a New York City Godiva store, workers simply downloaded a computer patch and the cash register began working again. The gun dealers' problem, in which they could only register manually with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, is expected to be resolved by the end of the week.

In Pakistan, officials are investigating two separate power outages, one that lasted six hours and the other for eight hours, near Islamabad. They haven't yet determined whether they were Y2K related or caused by bad weather, Koskinen said.

Dialysis Malfunction

United Kingdom officials reported that the clock on a Swedish-made brand of kidney dialysis machine didn't automatically reset itself. This caused a disinfection feature to fail, possibly putting patients at risk for infection, said Bruce McConnell, director of the UN International Y2K Cooperation Center. Still, operators have to manually reset the machine every year, Koskinen said.

Koskinen said such minor anecdotes would likely be reported for the next month or two, as companies and countries begin processing new data and performing various computerized tasks. These nuisances, he said, pale in comparison to what might have happened had the world not addressed the problem in such a unified way.

Expense Defended

Collectively, business and governments from New Zealand to Hawaii spent an estimated $300 billion to tackle the problem. Koskinen, responding to criticism that people overreacted, said that nearly every dime spent was worth it. ``When a hurricane comes you reinforce your house and it stands,'' Koskinen said. ``The question is always could you have spent less money.''

In this operation, governments and industry probably could've saved about 5 percent to 10 percent, Koskinen said. ``I think if anybody erred on the side of spending a little too much to make sure the power stayed on, the telecommunications systems continued to run and the nuclear plants had no problems, I suspect that was probably money well spent,'' he said.

Once the Y2K information team completes its duties in March, Koskinen said he did not know what would happen to the international relationships and cooperation that came from the effort. The Office of Management and Budget is evaluating whether the center should continue operating as a way to monitor the security of the world's information infrastructure.

Such a decision should come by Feb. 29 when the world will face its next date problem -- the leap year rollover.

-- Hokie (Hokie_@hotmail.com), January 04, 2000.