[WEB4LIB] Re: Y2K on PC

[Byron C. Mayes]

At 07:55 AM 9/10/98 -0700, James Klock wrote:
>>>I'd probably check in with your campus IS/IT department to see what they
>>>are doing about this issue.
>>I began asking those questions of our IS Department nearly three years
>>ago and the response was always that there were no Y2K problems and
>>everything was fine.  In fact, once I was even laughed at for asking the
>>question.  I personally checked the two computers in my office and one
>>was compliant and the other was not.  
>
>Part of the issue here may be that your IS department is (rightly, IMHO)
>focusing their efforts on the large or widely-used systems upon which many
>people depend from day to day.

There is a BIG difference between saying, "There may be a problem but we're
focusing mainframe issues and thus haven't devoted any significant time to
PC issues, so you may have to look elsewhere for answers," and saying,
"There is no problem, ha ha ha, you're stupid for even asking." The first
answer shows some respect for the person asking the question by being
honest, being to the point, not being insulting, and by advising that some
independent footwork may need to be done. The second answer, in addition to
being outright disrespectful, is potentially misleading. What type of IS
Department would give an answer like that? (One with no concept of a
service orientation, IMO).


  PCs, by and large, don't have any NEED to
>care what the date and time is-- if the CMOS battery dies, the PC has no
>intrinsic way of keeping track of time.  
>Most PCs that fail to recognize year 2000 will actually revert on January 1
>2000 to believing that it is Jan 1 1980.  There are a very few applications
>which you might run on your PC which would respond badly to this, but by
>and large, having your PCs report the wrong time is not a major issue.

Operative words here are "a very few". People need to get their work done,
and if their work revolves around one of those "very few" applications that
may break in a year-and-a-third then it IS a major issue. Responsible IS/IT
Departments (and Library Systems departments as well, don't think I'm
letting us off the hook) should have devoted/be devoting some time to PC
issues and Y2K. If there is no problem, we should be able to say just how
we know. If a problem can be fixed -- whether with a $500 replacement, a
$50 upgrade, or a 5-minute download -- we should be able to say that with
some authority. If we don't have the resources to investigate thoroughly,
we have to let the people holding the purse strings know that , too.

Byron
(It'd be nice if they were talking about this on the Systems Librarians list)
 

Prof. Byron C. Mayes
Systems Librarian/Assistant Professor, Hunter College of the City
University of
New York
695 Park Avenue * New York, New York 10021
bcmayes at hunter.cuny.edu  * 212-772-4168 * Fax: 212-772-5113
Listowner, BLACK-IP, Black Information Professionals' Network