So here is my wandering (and actually a little bit of ranting - please
forgive...). Gary and I spoke briefly about the fact that many computers
are not capable of going past the year 1999 and that we really don't have
a handle on the true impact this will have. It reminded of the only
article I have seen about the problem and it was on a consultant hired by
the Federal government to deal with the problem. His comment was
basically that too little was being done too late.
So, I then thought -- well the government is probably focusing most of its
efforts on security issues. Then I thought -- this is crazy! If
computers had been invented in the 1500's I can understand the calendar
thing. But most computers have hit the market in the last 20 years.
While technology moves quickly didn't anyone think about this? We have
complex relational data bases but we don't have the year 2000?
So there is not a lot being discussed about this. The ramifications are
not being investigated in an open way -- yet... So here is my question..
We have talked about systems changing -- large systems like the US
Government -- could this be the leap into chaos? I admit it -- I voted
for Perot last time because I wanted to see what would happen if a spanner
got thrown into the works -- could we put the system into overload? I am
not advocating anarchy -- just a brief meltdown. But could this date
issue actually bring about chaos? Do you know how many of the services you
receive are based on a computerized calendar? Are we living in denial
about a technical aspect of this system and what can we learn based on our
behavior?
This is a very real issue which we face now but are not facing. We have a
huge network of systems which are computer dependent which we are largely
unaware of! Talk about needing to hold a small piece and the whole at the
same time. What are you doing about this?
Sherri
sherri@maloufinc.com Tel:603-672-0355
LMA, Inc Fax:603-673-7120
--sherri@maloufinc.com (Sherri Malouf)
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>