Small business vulnerable too

0 Comments | Insight on the News, Jan 6, 1997 | by Stacie Zoe Berg

Many corporate and government agencies remain dependent on older mainframe computers run by millennium-illiterate programming codes that could cost billions of dollars to fix by the year 2000 - when their two-digit date format, designed to save storage space decades ago, makes it impossible for computers to distinguish between the 20th and 21st centuries.

But the millennium bug could affect small business even more. "Small businesses make up much more of the business world than the big guys do," says Mike Master, a board member of Avatar Solutions, a software and service company in Vienna, Va. "They have the same inherent problems.... If they're using any kind of electronic information or electronic commerce or exchange and if it's time-sensitive or date-sensitive then it can have a dramatic effect on them." In addition, their own systems may link programs where exchange or recording of information may use two digits.

"If a company is a 50-person tax-consulting firm and the software has year 2000 problems, there's real money on the line," says Mike Elgan, editor of Windows magazine. Between the costs of repairs and litigation, midsize companies may go out of business if they don't start fixing the problem now, adds Capers Jones, board chairman at the Software Productivity Research Group. Big businesses already are hiring consultants, boosting the cost for small businesses as both time and resources run out. Programmers checking source codes for dates charge $65 an hour; that rate is expected to jump to $150 in the next few years.

Although it mainly is a software problem, the year 2000 can pose problems for hardware as well. Some computers can't be reset to Jan. 1, 2000. Peter de Jagger, a computer consultant specializing in this dilemma, suggests this 5-minute test:

"Set the date on your personal computer to Dec. 31, 1999. Set the time to 23:58 hours (11:58 p.m.) and then `power off' the computer. Wait at least 3 minutes and then turn the computer back on. Check the date and time. It should be a minute or two past midnight, on the morning of Saturday, Jan. 1, 2000." If the system has the wrong date, all date-sensitive software will be affected.

This problem can be fixed with a software patch or by typing in the correct date each time the computer is booted. But to remedy the problem, businesses first must assess it. "Without a good assessment, you don't know what to budget in the way of time, resources and money," says Master.

A Head's Up

The Mac OS and Apple Macintosh computers and Mac software do not have problems with the year 2000. Problems may arise for users with customized date-and-time utility packages.

Microsoft Windows NT and Windows 95 are okay until 2099. Microsoft software with two-digit date formats will be updated in 1997. Besides inspecting the source code for customized programs, Microsoft recommends inspecting Windows-based systems that use a "third-party runtime library" - that is, not Win32 - and mainframe-based applications accessed from a personal computer.

Most spreadsheet programs are year-2000 compliant, but people rarely use their "at date" function. Instead, they create a two-digit "year" field, which will make 21st-century calculatons inaccurate.

Personal users can download a free diagnostic Me or hardware patch programs at http://www.Righ-Time.com. Many books with repair tools for common languages (Visual Basic, Cobol and so on) will be available early this year. http://www. year2000.com has resources including articles by experts in the field and links to consultants. Perhaps the best way to correct the problem: Buy the software manufacturer's upgrade and check links to old programs and data.