STL Time Machine Report #46 - Monday 07 June 1999 (1999-06-07)

The third-party database is stable and running with LE/MVS.  And
there's been some talk of a public announcement of our Y2k status.
I haven't heard about Unix network boxes, but the last upgrades
were supposed to be done by the end of June, and they were ahead
of schedule last month on those hardware and OS upgrades.

And it looks like I will be watching the rollover at midnight local
time.  My boss gave me the news while our whole department was at a
Cardinals baseball game May 27th.  Treat your programmers right,
send them to a day game.  I got to see Mark MacGwire hit his 14th
homer of the year.

Here's another way to treat your programmers.  Last week we had
another offsite meeting of about 200 developers.  The meeting was
held at a local multiplex, starting at 8:00 AM with breakfast.
They brought in a stand-up comedian who does local commercials
(the Dobbs Tire Store Guy) to loosen the crowd up.  We laughed
'till we cried.  Then the usual reports and slides.  At 11:30 
they were starting to hand out lunches, and oh, by the way, we 
booked the theater across the hall, and anyone who wants to 
stay can watch "The Phantom Menace" on the company's nickel.  
Meesa stay.

SIGNS, PORTENTS, OMENS

Ed Yourdon says "Sayonara" to Y2k, but no one will let him go.
The local paper did a story on Y2k testing at banks.  Jim
Seymour of PC Magazine says after Y2k, COBOL will finally die.
Meanwhile on c.s.y2k, all the news is about Gold, enemas, and
Martial Law (or is that marital law, I forget).  I've bought
two magazines at the local drugstore - "Y2K Disaster 2000" and
"How to survive the Y2K CRISIS.  They're both published by
Harris Farmers Almanac.  It looks like the Kosovo peace plan
has collapsed, and I'm still getting those Year 2000 investment
newsletter offers.

Will it ever end?

I'm surprised the Jim Seymour story didn't get more comment.
http://www.zdnet.com/pcmag/insites/seymour/js_p.htm
Jim Seymour is asking all the companies he knows what their
post-Y2k plans are.  Jim says after Y2k all programmers will
be outsourced and e-commerce will be the next wave.  And the
companies have no plans to upgrade to Windows 2000 or Office
2000, too much money and too disruptive.  Is Jim Seymour right?

ANOTHER PHM STORY

It seems the PHM has been hiring summer interns with promises
of Oracle work and web server development, and possible permanent
jobs.  But then they wind up running LAN cables, replacing PC
hard disks, and a few get hit with old COBOL listings and told,
"check for date problems".  How rude!  The interns are not
pleased.

As of 1999-06-07, my countdown now reads:

 28 days until 1999-07-05 (First Fail Date)
 76 days until 1999-08-22 (GPS Rollover?)
 94 days until 1999-09-09 (Another date)
208 days until 2000-01-01 (Rollover)

Previous Year 2000 Time Machine Reports are available at:
http://home.att.net/~arnold.trembley/tmr.htm

STANDARD DISCLAIMER:  I am NOT an official corporate spokesperson.
My opinions should not be held against my benevolent employer.

--
Arnold Trembley
http://home.att.net/~arnold.trembley/
"Y2K?  Because Centuries Happen!"