From: Hara Ra (harara@shamanics.com)
Date: Mon May 04 1998 - 05:36:27 MDT
>But how bad will it really be? How will the y2k problem affect simple
>things like your PC, web access and email? For example, can we
>expect this list to crash? (now *there's* something really serious)...
>
Well, my 1/2000 cents worth sez:
Anyone running mainframe or old minicomputer software, even if ported
to PCs will probably have problems - especially those who are already
trying to fix said Y2K problems, cause the final bugs will not appear
for some time past 1 Jan 2000.... (the less than obvious situations
are rare). OTOH, a Pc running Windows 95 or the like is likely to have
few if any problems. Embedded systems are also likely to be Y2K free
except for those whose applications depend on calendrical dates. I
think date dependent embedded apps are rare, I've never seen one
anyway. (Your ostrich POV here....)
I doubt the list would crash, as Majordomo is a Uniz app as I recall,
and the Unix Y2K equivalent is about 25 years from now...
BTW, the PC, web access and email are NOT simple! They just seem to be
cuz a lot of work has gone into them to make them fairly easy to use!
>Something else: everybody's talking about the negative sides of this
>alleged crash, but as with most disasters there must be ways to
>(greatly) profit from it. Although most people got hit in for example
>the crash of '29, some became millionaires overnight. There must be
>ways to profit from the (potential) chaos that will follow the y2k
>problem, and not just as a programmer. It would be stupid to let
>a golden opportunity like this one pass...Any suggestions? ;-)
I mentioned this some months ago, that one possible good aspect of Y2K is
that it might force businesses running ancient legacy software to finally
do a total upgrade, and properly so the documentation and source code won't
evaporate like the legacy stuff did. Some of these people are running
emulators of emulators, so there are performance advantages too. The real
losers are those whose legacy software doesn't crash...
As for profiteering, go down to the hardware store and buy generators,
Coleman lanterns and general disaster supplies. I expect my water to be OK,
gas maybe, and my electrical to be flaky for at least a week... So if you
live in the northeast, take a vacation in Arizona....
--- Hara Ra
O--------------------------------O
| Hara Ra <harara@shamanics.com> |
| Box 8334 Santa Cruz, CA 95061 |
O--------------------------------O
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