"U.S. Companies Confident On Y2K Compliance -- Poll" is the name of the article, even though 44% of corporations polled now do not expect all of their critical systems to be fully compliant by year's end. Let's hope the confidence these corporations have in their contingency plans is justified.

Here are the last three paragraphs from the article. Added bold emphasis mine:

http://infoseek.go.com/Content?arn=a4397reuff-19990922&qt=%22year+2000%22+bug*+glitch*+y2k&sv=IS&lk=noframes&col=NX&kt=A&ak=news1486

[snip]

Rubin Systems Chief Executive Howard Rubin said the survey illustrates the confidence of corporate America. Rubin said most companies had contingency plans in place in case of computer failure, including ones that could not completely finish the overhaul of their computer systems.

The survey also found that 56 percent of corporations polled now expect all of their critical systems to be fully compliant by year's end, up from 48 percent in August.

``The critical importance of addressing the year 2000 challenge has really succeeded,'' Rubin told a telephone news conference.

[snip]

-- Linkmeister (link@librarian.edu), September 24, 1999

Answers

[Fair Use: For Educational/Research Purposes Only]

U.S. Companies Confident On Y2K Compliance -- Poll

02:30 a.m. Sep 23, 1999 Eastern

NEW YORK (Reuters) - American corporate executives do not expect substantial technological problems to arise from the changeover to 2000, according to a survey released Wednesday.

The survey, conducted by Rubin Systems Inc. for information technology and management consulting company Cap Gemini America, found that 82 percent of the information technology directors and managers polled believed that the so-called Y2K bug does not pose a ``significant business risk.''

Of the 156 executives polled, 12 percent expect serious problems from computers unequipped to deal with the changeover, with 6 percent saying they do not know what to expect, the survey said.

The Y2K bug arises from a programming glitch that could cause computers to mistake 2000 for 1900 starting Jan. 1. Unless fixed, such errors have the potential to affect everything from cash machines to telephones to power grids.

Rubin Systems Chief Executive Howard Rubin said the survey illustrates the confidence of corporate America. Rubin said most companies had contingency plans in place in case of computer failure, including ones that could not completely finish the overhaul of their computer systems.

The survey also found that 56 percent of corporations polled now expect all of their critical systems to be fully compliant by year's end, up from 48 percent in August.

``The critical importance of addressing the year 2000 challenge has really succeeded,'' Rubin told a telephone news conference.

Copyright 1999 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.

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-- Linkmeister (link@librarian.edu), September 24, 1999.

The survey also found that 56 percent of corporations polled now expect all of their critical systems to be fully compliant by year's end, up from 48 percent in August.

Forty-four percent don't expect all their critical systems to be fully compliant by year's end. Down from 52% in the last poll.

And that's the good news.

Everybody GI yet?

-- Lane Core Jr. (elcore@sgi.net), September 24, 1999.

Phew!

Amazable.

"...most companies had contingency plans..."

So... how LONG can a company operate business-as-usual based on running the contingency plans?

Or can they? Doesn't that just mean... business is NOT usual? What then, does that do to the economy and potential job layoffs?

Sometimes, I wonder about those dot com "experts."

Diane

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), September 24, 1999.

``The critical importance of addressing the year 2000 challenge has really succeeded,'' Rubin told a telephone news conference.

What the heck does that mean? It reads like one of those poorly (and amusingly) translated signs occasionally seen in foreign countries, e.g., "The flattening of the bed linens is provided with pleasure by the chambermaid."

"The critical importance... has succeeded." Pardon?

-- Mac (sneak@lurk.hid), September 24, 1999.

Of the 156 executives polled, 12 percent expect serious problems from computers unequipped to deal with the changeover, with 6 percent saying they do not know what to expect, the survey said.

If these 18 percent cover a cross section of American business, unemployment goes from 4% to 22% overnight. This sounds like 1930's numbers to me.

Now add in whatever portion of the 52% who 'think' they have the problem fixed but don't really have a clue.

-- Its.... (onlylogical@hotmail.com), September 24, 1999.

Isn't there a disconnect here. Since when did the "EXECUTIVES" actually know what was actually going on in their IT department, and if if wasn't positive, don't they just disscount the information or fire the IT guy. If you read this forum regulary, you fully know that the "EXECUTIVES" just don't get it or just don't want to get it. I can't put too much validity in anything that an executive poll has to say.

-- thinkIcan (thinkIcan@make.it), September 24, 1999.