Johannesburg, 04 Mar 1999
Are you Y2k compliant? You`ve probably been asked the question more than once in the past year. But what is all the fuss about? What does Y2K mean, and how exactly will the year 2000 affect the man in the street, or the owner of a small or medium sized business?
The answer is relatively simple. When computers were first developed, computer storage cost approximately ten thousand times more than it costs today. The best way to save money was to save on storage space and so, rather than using four digits, dates were stored as two digits (i.e. 1964 was saved as 64, 1976 as 76). By doing this bytes and rands were saved, and everyone was happy. This saving system soon became so popular that it was programmed into the chips of both hardware and software, much of which is still in use today.
Now, with hind site, we can see that this space saving mechanism was only a short-term solution to a long-term problem, a problem that we`ll all soon be facing. When the parties are over and the calendars have clicked onto 2000, the date on many of our country`s computers will reflect as 00 or nil years which computers won`t accept. This discrepancy will cause some machines to fail, others will send out erroneous data.
At Big Business level, the pressure is on and large corporations are spending millions to ensure that their computers are able to sail safely into the new millenium, but a recent survey showed that more than 50% of small to medium sized businesses are not Y2K compliant.
The reasons given for this ranged from:
"It`s a scam by the computer industry" (5%) through
"My computer is new so I don`t think it will be affected" (19%) to
"I don`t understand the problem" (23%).
The bad news for these businesses is that Y2K compliancy is a business issue, which means that all businesses, big or small, will have to take responsibility for making sure that their computers are ready for the year 2000.
Yet another issue is that, in some cases, data being transferred from non-compliant computers could adversely affect compliant computers. In this case, the non-compliant company could be held responsible for any damages caused. Ignorance of the Y2K problem will not stand as defence in a court of law.
Y2k compliance is a very real and urgent concern - not to be ignored. Making sure that all computers are ready to face the millennium head on is vital.
If this is the case why are so many companies still not 2000 ready? According to Douglas Reed, MD of Datapro business solutions, the cost of compliancy testing is one the main reasons why businesses have been avoiding the issue.
"The whole situation has gotten totally out of hand" he said, "Computer companies have jumped on the Y2K band wagon. This has led to a pricing system that is out of the reach of many in the small and medium sized market. At DataPro we will do a test, write a report and provide certification for fifty rand per computer. Now and again an item will need to be upgraded, but it`s very seldom that we`ll have to change all the hardware or even software. If we can do it, why can`t everyone else?"
Why not indeed?
It`s up to each one of us, large and small to make sure that we`re ready for the next Millenium. If you haven`t had your computer equipment tested yet, take some time out to do so. It doesn`t have to cost the earth, and it may even save you thousands in legal fees.
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