Re: Year 2k - for better or for worse

mark@unicorn.com
Mon, 30 Mar 1998 10:24:50 -0800 (PST)


den Otter [otter@globalxs.nl] wrote:
>But how bad will it really be?

No-one knows. It might be the end of civilization as we know it, or it
might just mean that your VCR records the wrong program. A more likely
scenario is that lots of computers will go wrong in the next couple of
years and a fair number of governments and corporations will never
recover.

>How will the y2k problem affect simple
>things like your PC, web access and email?

Most PCs will work, most web access should be fine (there are some
problems with web-servers that use two-digit dates) and AFAIK all
SMTP email uses four-digit dates. That assumes, of course, we still
have power and phone lines.

>There must be
>ways to profit from the (potential) chaos that will follow the y2k
>problem, and not just as a programmer. It would be stupid to let
>a golden opportunity like this one pass...Any suggestions? ;-)

I've been wondering that myself, but with so much uncertainty as to
what will happen, it's hard to say... other than that the people who
get it right probably will make a lot of profit.

Mark