EDITORIAL PAGE

There have been many prophecies rendered over the years as to when the next great correction to the stock market will occur. Although the New York Stock Exchange has taken a few dips in the last ten years and new controls added to brake slides, something is brewing that could potentially turn very ugly. Like it or not, the stock market is now being driven by technology stocks. If they flourish, the market flourishes; if they flounder, the market flounders. Although the market is now relatively stable, there is an obvious problem glaring us in the face which will have a significant impact on our economic well-being: the Year 2000 (Y2K) problem.

In case you've been hiding with your head in the sand and not aware of what's going on, simply put, the Y2K problem is concerned with how computers will work when the date changes to 2000. Due to sloppy programming practices over the last 40 years, considerable software has been written using a two digit numeric (e.g., 98 to represent 1998) instead of properly using a four digit numeric. Consequently, the worry here is that this date snafu will cause many information systems to come to a screeching halt thereby bringing business to a halt. It is a legitimate problem that should frighten businesses. Fortunately, many companies have already started to address the problem, including IBM with OS/2 and Sun Microsystems with Java. Y2K certification is becoming more prevalent and is popping up in advertisements every day. Although there has been some significant progress made in this area, it is in all likelihood too little, too late, particularly in the Windows world which is slow to act on this important problem.

The Year 2000 problem will begin to raise its ugly head next year, particularly in the travel industry where reservations need to be booked in advance. It will only fester and grow worse as 1999 winds down. So prevalent will this problem be, that investors will lose confidence in the technology sector and begin to sell off shares in record numbers thereby causing stocks to plummet, taking the whole stock market down with it.

I am often asked by friends and associates as to what they should do in anticipation of the Y2K problem. Simply put, I tell them:

1. Institute a moratorium on new hardware purchases until the Year 2000 problem has passed. (This also makes sense until the PC-98 standards are implemented and ISA is phased out).

2. Invest in backup/recovery hardware/software and make sure EVERYTHING is backed up and protected.

3. If you are going to obtain any new software, be sure that it is Y2K certified. Insist that vendors demonstrate how their products are compliant. An ounce of prevention now will be worth a pound of cure later.

4. Trade in your stock for gold.

JUNE EDITORIAL

As a follow-up to last month's editorial on Ralph Nader's letter to Lou Gerstner; many readers have asked me where they can obtain more information. Please see:

Comsumer Project on Technology
P.O. Box 19367
Washington, DC 20036
Tel: 202/387-8030
Fax: 202/234-5176
WWW: http://www.cptech.org/
E-Mail: James Love (love@cptech.org)

FIXPAK 7

FixPak 7 for OS/2 Warp 4 was made available on June 26th and includes 16 disk image files, 7 text files, and a new "FixTool" file, fixt138b.exe, which replaces previous "kicker" disks, and must be used for installation of FixPak-7. Altogether, almost 23mb in all. For the United States, the FixPak can be downloaded from: ftp://service.boulder.ibm.com/ps/products/os2/fixes/v4warp/english-us/xr_m007. All other users should go to: ftp://service.boulder.ibm.com/ps/products/os2/fixes/v4warp/.

NEW 727 AREA CODE

Please be advised that effective immediately the telephone company has changed the 813 area code in Florida (Tampa Bay). Consequently, our office will now observe the new 727 area code:

Tel: 727/786-4567
Fax: 727/786-4765

The 813 area code will be honored for a few more months, but please adjust your records accordingly and implement the new 727 ASAP. Thank you.

Keep the faith!

Copyright © MBA 1998