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We have been talking about it for a few years but now it’s time for more than talk. As the year 2000 approaches, it is time to develop your personal plan of action for dealing with the Millennium Bug (also known as Y2K Crisis). So on January 1, 2000, will you:
When examining this issue it becomes apparent that there are some Y2K problems you can do something about, and some you can’t do anything (or much) about. The emphasis here will be on the forme. What is the Millennium Y2K Crisis? Since the early development of computers, date storage has been limited to 2 digits. This saved time, money and computer resources. Because of this 2 digit limitation, most computers "see"1980 as 80. 1997 is 97, and 2000 is 00…which will appear to many computers as 1900 and not 2000. Your bank deposit on January 2, 2000 may be "seen" by your bank’s computer system as an old (100 year old) deposit…and you might not get credit for it! The Millennium Bug could also create problems in the running of your day to day software applications. If you own less than a dozen computers and no customized software or software written specifically for you or your business, you won’t have too much to deal with, but you are not completely out of the woods. It is the large companies with lots of money invested in computer hardware and software systems that will be looking at a major expense to their business. The lines of code required to "correct" the problems with existing programs can be calculated and in some cases, an army of programmers programming 24 hours a day between now and January 1, 2000 will not be enough to get the job done. There is no doubt that for many companies it is a problem of immense proportion. Becoming "Y2K Compliant" will be very costly. The actual size of the problem is the subject of great debate. Dr. Edward Yardini, chief economist of Deutsch Morgan Grenfell predicts that Y2K could result in a mild US recession and is predicting the chance of a worldwide recession at 70%. Federal reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan testified before the Senate Banking Committee that there is potential for a very large economic problem. What are things I can do something about? Make sure your hardware is Y2K compliant. Diagnostic and Fix software is available at many different web sites. Take a look at what is available on the Windows Magazine Web Site( http://www.winmag.com/people/melgan/year2000 ). You might also try a piece of software by McAfee called Mcafee 2000 Toolbox. It will test your computer for Y2K compliance, letting you know if your Real Time Clock and BIOS will work on January 1, 2000. The program will install a fix on non-compliant systems. While there are many free programs available on the net, we haven’t found any as complete and easy to use as this one and believe this to be a wise investment of $30. If you are a Broker/Owner, you may want to educate your agents about Y2K. Make sure your software is Y2K Compliant. Inventory your software and check with the software manufacturer to check for compliance. Where can I learn more about the Y2K Crisis? The Web has many Sites with great information. Here are a few.
If I don’t do anything, will my computer work on January 1, 2000? If you have only one computer and use limited software applications, there is a good chance that to you, January 1, 2000 will be like any other day. What’s the long term impact? Who knows? As a Real Estate Professional, what should I be aware of:
Solving Y2K problems can be a costly endeavor and the cost to correct or bring a building’s systems into "compliance should be factored into the value of a property". |
