After two years of doom-and-gloom pronouncements about the year 2000 problem, a
growing cadre of
Y2K experts has begun to recast its predictions of potential calamity into a
tamer vision of the millennium bug.
This month, Canadian speaker and computer consultant Peter de Jager, one of the
earliest and
most vocal
Y2K pessimists, published an article on his Web site titled
"Doomsday Avoided"--a play on his first article on the topic, written six years ago and titled
"Doomsday 2000."
"We've finally broken the back of the
Y2K problem," de Jager
wrote.
"Most if not all companies are working on this issue. They are fixing, or have
fixed, their systems. They have examined, or are examining, their embedded
system problems. We are, for the most part, no longer ignoring
Y2K."
Edward Yardeni, chief economist for the investment banking firm Deutsche Bank
Securities Inc. and one of the most persistent drumbeaters on the Y2K issue,
recently revised his estimate for a long global recession due to the glitch,
from a 70% chance to 45%.
"I've toned
down the message partly because progress has been made," Yardeni said.
"I would be happy to back off entirely."
Although it is unlikely that Jan. 1, 2000, will be an Information Age blackout,
it is still entirely possible that serious problems are looming.
But Yardeni and de Jager are among the
most prominent examples of what has become a discernible turn in the mood
surrounding the Y2K problem. The alarms, at least in the United States, have
begun to subside, replaced with a parade of repair statistics and completion
percentages.
Even though the latest cost estimates are skyrocketing into the trillion-dollar
range and reports from overseas paint an ever gloomier picture of inattention,
there is a much stronger sense, at least in the United States, that the problem
is being taken seriously.
Many experts say the changing attitude is partly due to
"spin control" from companies and government agencies that have realized the panic and
bad publicity that comes with poor repair reports.
The result is an often-confusing release of information that seems to be both
good and bad at the same time.
Last month, California's Department of Information Technology reported that 75%
of its critical systems had been cleansed of the Y2K problem. But just three
days later, the auditor general's office released a report that said two-thirds
of the systems were not ready.
Even as federal Y2K czar John Koskinen was reassuring the public of the
government's progress, a congressional report was giving a failing grade to
such critical agencies as the Federal Aviation
Administration and the State Department. Both agencies promise to be ready well
before the new year.
"Some of the stuff people are saying is just a load of hogwash," said Kazim Isfahani, a Y2K analyst for Cambridge, Mass.-based Giga Information
Group Inc., an information
technology research and consulting firm.
"A lot of companies, associations and agencies have realized that putting a
positive spin on the year 2000 is vital."
But amid all the hype, there is a sense, even among pessimists, that things are
actually getting better and that progress is being made.
Out of the
panic that seemed to infuse the issue over the last two years, has come a
calmer interpretation driven by the sense that most businesses and government
agencies are at least aware of the problem and are working to repair it.
The year 2000 problem is a simple technical issue that stems from the long
tradition in computer programming of abbreviating years to two digits. In 2000,
computers could become confused because of the ambiguity of two-digit years.
For example,
"00" could mean either
"2000" or
"1900."
Some parts of the Y2K problem, such as its effect on embedded
microprocessors--critical components that control automated
processes in power plants and hospital equipment--have turned out to be far
less pervasive than previously believed.
Giga Information Group was one of many companies that sounded the alarm,
proposing that embedded microprocessors could be the most serious aspect of the
Y2K problem because of their widespread use in critical industries.
But
in January, the company released a new report, titled
"It May Rain, but the Sky Won't Fall," stating that problems with embedded microprocessors
"will not have the crippling effect as originally thought."
Alistair Stewart, a senior advisor for Giga on embedded systems,
said that only about 3% of chips have been found to have minor problems,
typically requiring resetting the date or restarting a device. The percentage
of chips that experience outright failures is
"so small as to be statistically insignificant," he said.
"There won't be a systemic shutdown," Stewart said.
"You will have some localized inconveniences with
some localized failures."
Phone Companies Are Encouraged
Consumer electronic firms have turned up a tiny number of defective products
after testing tens of thousands of devices.
The Telco Year 2000 Forum, an organization made up of eight of the nation's
leading phone companies, released
a report this month saying it found no serious problems out of nearly 2,000
tests.
Even the federal government--the perennial sick man of the Y2K movement--has
had its share of good news. The same congressional report that flunked the FAA
also gave top grades to such important agencies as the Nuclear
Regulatory Commission, Social Security Administration, Environmental Protection
Agency and Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Isfahani said much of the mood change is due to real improvements, particularly
in the flow of information that has partly taken the Y2K problem out of the
realm of hypothetical dangers and imagined catastrophe.
"We're
at the point where we can point to specific events that indicate progress," he said.
"A year ago, we didn't have that, and a lot of what people were saying was
because there was no information."
Lou Marcoccio, Y2K research director for the Stamford, Conn.-based information
technology consulting firm GartnerGroup Inc., said the
millennium bug has become a relatively well-understood phenomenon over the last
two years.
"Two years ago, we didn't know the extreme detail we know now," he said.
"There was a lot more guesswork. But we don't have to guess much now. We are
capturing realistic information on what is really
being done on a frequent basis."
Marcoccio said most of the research points to little impact on most consumers
and businesses, although small businesses and those with overseas connections
continue to be vulnerable.
He added that the one revision from GartnerGroup is a substantial increase in
its estimate of total Y2K
costs. The company originally estimated that repair costs would total $ 300
billion to $ 600 billion.
Marcoccio said the figure has now been raised to $ 2 trillion to account for
the amount companies are spending on risk assessment and contingency plans.
The possibility of a flood of lawsuits stemming from Y2K problems also
remains an issue that could add billions to the already enormous tab.
The progress in repairs and the increased flow of information has not turned
the year 2000 into a love fest. There are still glaring weak spots in the
repair effort.
A report by a special Senate committee
last month singled out the health-care industry as significantly lagging other
sectors.
"Because of limited resources and lack of awareness, rural and inner-city
hospitals have particularly high Y2K risk exposure," the report said.
Edward Yourdon, a respected software engineering consultant who has written
25 books on software design and management, said he remains pessimistic about
the situation because of the short time left and the unrealistic projections of
project managers.
"If anything, I've grown more pessimistic," he said.
Yourdon said Y2K repairs have followed the pattern of other large programming
projects. Typically,
15% of those projects do not finish on time. Repairs and new programming
usually introduce about one new error for every 1,000 lines of software code,
he said.
"This is what happens in normal projects," he said.
"Clearly, we have a situation where people desperately want to believe that
everything is
on schedule."
It's a Different Story Overseas
Yardeni, of Deutsche Bank Securities, said that even though he has reduced his
probability of a global recession, information about slow repairs by small
companies and dismal efforts overseas have partially offset those figures.
"A year ago,
I would have said the main problem was the federal government,' Yardeni said.
"Now we're getting more reports about the situation overseas, and the reports
are not good."
The World Bank, the U.S. government and other entities have focused on the slow
pace of repairs overseas as a weak link.
The State
Department announced this month that it is considering issuing travel warnings
and preparing evacuation plans for Americans living in countries that
experience serious Y2K problems.
But even the pessimists concede that despite the continuing flow of grim news,
there has been a marked change in how the millennium
bug is discussed these days.
After two years of warnings and alarms, few people still debate whether a
problem exists. It is accepted as a valid and serious problem and, to many of
the pundits and consultants, the debate now is largely about getting the job
done.
"We've overcome the largest Y2K
hurdle," de Jager wrote in
"Doomsday Avoided."
"The Y2K problem was never the actual act of fixing code; it was the inaction
and denial regarding a problem so easily demonstrated as real and pressing."