Y2k BUGGY hopefully not a repost : )

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

>

The Dallas Morning News Destinations Column Source: Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News (By Tim Wyatt, The Dallas Morning News ), 01/27/2000

http://pb1-2.newsreal.com/osform/NewsService?osform_template=pages/cnniwStor y&ID=cnniw&path=News/Category.NRdb@2@4&storypath=News/Story_2000_01_27.NRdb@ 2@8@3@328

Jan. 27--GOING Y2K BUGGY: Fear of the millennium bug and the catastrophes that it might bring helped sales of ammunition, dried food and bottled water skyrocket. But the wholesale horror didn't turn out as wholesale or horrific as some thought. We ventured out on the Web to see what the watchdogs are saying now that the world hasn't come apart and the crisis has passed. Or has it?

Y2K GLITCH CENTRAL www.ciaosystems.com/glitchcentral.htm Judging from the day-by-day collection of stories here, the millennium bug is being felt across the globe. Site hosts advise viewers that they are posting reports on an hourly basis, trying to verify each problem and providing addresses for online rubber-neckers to go check themselves. Links to stories such as "Two of nine Spanish nuclear reactors experience Y2K glitches" can get hearts pumping until all the facts are in (they were minor events). But tales of medical equipment failures in Malaysia can get one to thinking about what happens if a heart defibrillator shuts down abruptly. The site also claims that problems will jump drastically in the next week in a new wave of computer glitches.

WILD2K! www.wild2k.com The Y2K Afterthoughts section posts authors, editors, computer experts and grass-roots Netizenry commenting on what did and didn't happen when the clock rolled past 12:01 a.m. Jan. 1. Here you can find naysayers and cautious pessimists reflecting on predictions that ranged from mild disturbances to outright havoc. Naturally, some folks will never admit they're wrong. We stumbled on one man's reaction to a recent digital tar-and-feathering he had received on the site. "I was never a false prophet," he wrote. "But I am now a humbled forecaster." Admirable. Then, unable to restrain himself, he added, "P.S. Don't give away your stored food yet."

CENTER FOR Y2K AND SOCIETY www.y2kcenter.org/resources/glitches One of the interesting things about The Bug is noting how many clearly unrelated mishaps are blamed on Y2K anyway. To be fair, this is an excellent site for tracking anything from commercial software problems to spy satellite shutdowns related to the date rollover. It's going a bit far, however, to throw in a water main bursting in downtown Cleveland or the shutdown of a health insurer's prescription database for backup because it was down for a day or two. Still, some agencies did make good-faith efforts to prevent Y2K failures and mucked it up anyway.

Y2K INTERNATIONAL WATCH www.iol15.com/coggeshall/ Y2K-International-Watch/Update.htm It took forever to type in this address, but we liked how easy it was to scan over the list of Y2K-related problems, even if it was a short list. Date errors and lost databases are collected and posted by location, the type of system failure that occurred, a brief description of the damage and a link to more details on the event. The archives section has a good collection of Week One incidents that range from brief power failures in New Delhi to air traffic control problems in Oslo. Just when we thought we had a winner that even posts U.S. industry report cards on Y2K compliance, we saw that the site host was a week late in updating his own Update page. Coincidence or government cover-up?

INTERNATIONAL DISASTER INFORMATION www.humanitarian.net/challenges.html The Humanitarian Resource Institute posts an overview of year 2000 challenges, which include Internet vulnerability, hackers, chemical safety and biomedical equipment issues. This site shines in linking to stories about potential disasters and includes a lot of government reports. This site is also useful for preparing for floods, hurricanes, earthquakes and wildfires, which don't abide by what year it is.

BUG BITE 2000 stuarthrodman.com/Bugbite.htm Stuart Rodman's simple page of world wire service stories is yet another site that makes wading through major problems related to the millennium easy. It's also another that hints of governments downplaying the significance of these events. Scroll to the bottom of the page to see the You Be The Judge section, where most of the headlines for sewage spills and refinery shutdowns end with not-so-subtle hints such as "{ellipsis} or no?" We'll risk global humiliation by adding our two cents: Give us a break, will you? Paranoia aside, Mr. Rodman links back into his own material and reports on millennium challenges. For our part, we stuck with the wire reports. Or no?

Y2K PRESS CLIPPINGS www.year2000.com/y2karticles.htm Like some of the other sites listed here, year2000.com is more than glad to add visitors to its bimonthly e-mail newsletter of updates on Y2K-related stories from newspapers and wire services. For those looking to re-read predictions and warnings from as far back as four years ago, this is the place to log on. Links move directly to major news sources covering technology problems that go beyond incorrect dates and system crashes. Turn to the Bug Bytes section for follow-ups on how some joker posted a $10 million bid for this site's domain name on an eBay auction, forcing year2000.com's owners to abandon the sale of the coveted URL. We really liked the warning at the top of Clippings' cover page that a bug in a certain version of Internet Explorer would prevent those users from viewing the postings.

Staff Writer Tim Wyatt is a veteran researcher and Web wanderer. If you have a comment about or suggestion for Destinations, e-mail it to destinations@dallasnews.com or write to Destinations, Personal Technology, The Dallas Morning News, P.O. Box 655237, Dallas, Texas 75265.

-- Charli (claypool@belatlantic.net), January 28, 2000

Answers

Charli,

Thank you for the great post! =)

-- Dee (T1Colt556@aol.com), January 28, 2000.


Charli,

You need to send me an email. I tried to send one to you and it bounced.

Thanks!

:)

-- FM (vidprof@aol.com), January 28, 2000.


ok

-- Charli (claypool@belatlantic.net), January 29, 2000.

Moderation questions? read the FAQ