This message is from: Marsha Jo Hannah <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Steve McIlree <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > I've been in the computer business long enough to have created many > of the programs that are going to break. My opinion is that the > morning of January 1, 2000 will dawn without any major disruption. > Those who would have you believe otherwise are those who always have > fun scaring themselves with tales of the coming apocalypse or > economic collapse. Or they are folks who are cutting themselves a > fat hog by consulting. Yes there will be minor problems, but nothing > that will bring any kind of catastrophic collapse of our modern > social order.
I'd say that about sums it up! Most of these media folks obviously don't know the difference between computer hardware (which just counts seconds from some initial date, and won't notice the Y2K rollover), vs computer databases (which may save date info in human-readable form that looks like MM/DD/YY), vs computer software (which may or may not convert properly between the two formats). But, yes, some of the loudest of the doom-sayers have been finding reasons to warn folks to head for the hills, buy silver, and lay in 6 months of food for at least 2 decades (several different scenarios that never happened)--- i.e. they've been doing the "Chicken Little" (the sky is falling!) routine for quite some time! The biggest danger this time is that enough people will believe them to cause "runs" on banks, grocery stores, etc. Sort of the ultimate "virus warning" hoax.... Like Steve, I suspect there will be a few Y2K glitches, which will be quickly ironed out or "worked around". That's what us programmers do for a living! However, preparedness never hurts. We're in earthquake country, with The Big One predicted for sometime in the next 30 years. We're also in mudslide country---our "driveway" has been known to be impassible for weeks or months. And, the winter storms knock out our power for several days at a time, almost every year. Consequently, we've always got at least one backup for just about everything in the pantry. We have a generator and a supply of gasoline. The woodshed is always at least half full. The water tank always has at least 4000 gallons in it. I start every winter with enough hay to last the Fjords thru to the next haying season. Etc. Of course, there's still a small possibility that this time the doomsayers could be right. As the old saying goes, even a stopped clock is right twice a day.... Marsha Jo Hannah Murphy must have been a horseman-- [EMAIL PROTECTED] anything that can go wrong, will! 30 mi SSE of San Francisco, Calif. -------
