Information:
"Bad decisions" - someone has suggested that not updating computer
systems to be Y2K compliant when the issue "first came up several years
ago" - was a bad decision.
I have been associated with the computer field since 1954, and I can tell
you from firsthand experience that it "first came up" DECADES ago! It
has not been a cost issue; it is a planning issue--a use-of-resources
issue. People who are responsible for computers are always running
behind; there is always more expected of them than they can possibly
produce (the using community is still not sufficiently educated to what
computers can really do for them). Every time anyone has wanted to deal
with the 2000 issue, they were laughed out of the room; there were too
many more pressing issues.
"How did these CIOs, COOs, and CEOs expect to stay functional at the turn
of the year 2000 with systems that would send the calculations back to
2000?" Answer: They didn't. The year 2000 was too far away; there were
more pressing issues. There is always someone who has a lot of
organizational clout who is pushing for something--something that
requires the resources available. In the 1950s, anyone who suggested
that we spend time "getting ready" for Y2K would have been laughed out of
the room. We are still not caught up with the demand. Only when
something becomes critical is it attended to.
Please, get a perspective on this. Learn about computer systems, the
history. No one is to "blame" here. It's part of our current situation.
Sort of like road rage. People are in a hurry. People don't want to
stop and think. People want results. Until now, Y2K was not important.
Now those same impatient people want to know why those CEOs were so
stupid.
Edryce