The Software Problem Page. The software problem is actually a greater problem than the hardware itself. Due to the vast variety and age of a lot of the software there are many inherent problems, with the storage of dates. Some software written with 4 digits in the year code will respond perfectly to the year 2000, but any software coded with 2 digit dates will not operate properly. There are, for the purpose of this summary really just two different types of software. The shrink wrapped 'off the shelf' software produced by large software organisations, and the 'bespoke' software produced by individual companies or persons for individual needs. To deal with the 'off the shelf' software first, this should present less of a problem than the other type. The reason for this is that the large corporations who produce this software, such as Microsoft, Lotus, Apple, and the other big producers are aware of the problem and have been working on it for a number of years. Upgrades to older software to make it complient is already available, and continues on an ongoing basis. It is therefore the responsibility of each individual or company to ensure that they have obtained these updates well before the year 2000 arrives. It is however also important for each organisation to ensure that the companies that it deals with, both customers and suppliers have also updated their own software, to ensure that the chain, linking these organisations is not broken by one or more organisation failing to become complient. It is also important for each organisation to have a properly constructed and detailed plan of their actions to have all areas of their operations updated and made complient.

It should not be necessary to state, that the earlier this operation is carried out the better it will be, as leaving it till later could prove disasterous, for the organisation concerned, for obvious reasons. However as stated earlier, it is imperative for each organisation to plan its strategy, investigate the effects of non complient software throughout its entire organisation, implement deadlines for completion,and place someone in total overall control to ensure proper management of the entire complience operation. Failure to do so, and to complete it at the earliest date could mean the eventual closure of the business, even before the year 2000 has arrived. Small one man businesses and small companies are not imune in any way from this problem. If they fall behind, or fail to become complient in time they could face loosing all their customers and suppliers and be forced to close down within a very short period of time.

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This site last modified on Sunday Jan 17 1999 23:00:17 (GMT)