Re: TW role in Y2K issues

[maimino -at- CSNET -dot- NET]

On  7 May 97 at 9:56, Eric Haddock, Q.P. wrote:

>    Your question is interesting--one that I would _never_ have
>    thought of.
>
>    Maybe I missed something about year 2000 but I thought its effect
>    was
> contained in antiquated mainframe software which, generally, is only
> used by the federal government, some state governments, and
> ultra-large database-driven corporations and of those entities, how
> many technical writers document the operation of such software? It
> seems to me we're almost all employed in corporations using modern
> software documenting modern devices which aren't dependent on the
> what the last two digits of the year are.
>

Not at all true. Any software product, from Quicken on a PC to a
mainframe app, can be affected. In fact, more than 90% of PCs
(including many Macs) have problems with the year 2000. Any program
that stores only the last two digits of the century will have
problems. That includes BIOS, spreadsheets, financial apps, bank
systems, system control apps (like the ones used at your local
electrical power plant), communication systems, satellites, etc.

Visit the Year 2000 web site at http://www.year2000.com for more
information.
Mike Aimino
TechComm, LLC  http://www.csnet.net/techcomm
"Time flies like an arrow, but fruit flies like a banana."
                                       -Groucho Marx

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