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[y2kplan] Plenty of Y2K Web sites, good and bad
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Plenty of Y2K Web sites, good and bad
Steve Alexander / Star Tribune
http://webserv1.startribune.com/cgi-bin/stOnLine/article?thisStory=65740109
The Y2K issue provokes strong reactions from many people, and one way
to sample that diversity is to read some of the many Internet Web
pages devoted to the subject.
Since the Web is a readily available forum for anybody with an opinion
about anything, there are literally hundreds of Y2K sites. But the Y2K
sites should be viewed with caution, because misinformation,
exaggeration and rumors abound.
While some Web sites approach Y2K with an impartial
"Who-can-tell-what-will-happen?" attitude, others portray it as an
inevitable disaster or an act of God. Even some sites claiming to
offer practical advice are in fact advancing a disaster-mentality
point of view.
With that caveat in mind, here's a list of Y2K Web sites recently
compiled by PC World magazine, plus some Web sites that provide still
other Y2K views:
The U.S. Senate's Special Committee on the Year 2000 Technology
Problem has a site that includes Y2K speeches and official positions
(www.senate.gov/˙2k/).
Plenty of Y2K Web sites, good and bad
Steve Alexander / Star Tribune
http://webserv1.startribune.com/cgi-bin/stOnLine/article?thisStory=657
40109
The Y2K issue provokes strong reactions from many people, and one way
to sample that diversity is to read some of the many Internet Web
pages devoted to the subject.
Since the Web is a readily available forum for anybody with an opinion
about anything, there are literally hundreds of Y2K sites. But the Y2K
sites should be viewed with caution, because misinformation,
exaggeration and rumors abound.
While some Web sites approach Y2K with an impartial
"Who-can-tell-what-will-happen?" attitude, others portray it as an
inevitable disaster or an act of God. Even some sites claiming to
offer practical advice are in fact advancing a disaster-mentality
point of view.
With that caveat in mind, here's a list of Y2K Web sites recently
compiled by PC World magazine, plus some Web sites that provide still
other Y2K views:
The U.S. Senate's Special Committee on the Year 2000 Technology
Problem has a site that includes Y2K speeches and official positions
(www.senate.gov/
A page from Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah, the committee's chairman, that
includes his Y2K speeches (www.senate.gov/Äennett/y2k.html).
The Utne Reader, an alternative monthly publication, offers a Y2K
citizen's action guide on its Web site (www.utne.com/y2k/). One essay
claims that Y2K has moved beyond technology to become a social and
political issue.
The Web site of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a
"public policy research institution," features the ominous headline
"Y2K, a global ticking timebomb?" It offers information from its Y2K
Risk Assessment Task Force, which held a Y2K conference last June
(www.csis.org/html/y2k.html).
The Boston-based Center for Millennial Studies observes human
reactions to Y2K. Center officials write, "Will the world end in the
year 2000? Nah. But how many people believe that it will end in 2000?"
(www.mille.org/).
The Christian Broadcasting Network's Web site offers some practical
advice about Y2K preparations, such as keeping paper records of
personal financial activities. It also suggests talking to God, and
quotes a Bible verse about why people shouldn't panic
(www.cbn.org/y2k/).
Computer consultant and author Ed Yourdon, who is widely quoted on Y2K
issues, offers his thoughts on the Y2K (www.yourdon.com/). Another
site sponsored partly by Yourdon deals with personal survival issues
(www.readyfory2k.com/).
Ed Yardeni, chief economist of New York-based Deutsche Bank Securities
and a leading Y2K pessimist, offers some of his speeches, news stories
quoting him and links to other Y2K information
(www.yardeni.com/cyber.html).
Peter de Jager, one of the first computer consultants to be widely
quoted on the risks of Y2K in September 1993, recounts on his Web site
(www.year2000.com/) how frustrated he felt at recent Y2K meeting when
a reporter asked him if Y2K was real.
"On hearing those words, I visibly sagged in my chair and was overcome
by a sense of despair. Is it real?!!! I can understand the questions
'How big is it?,' 'Are we spending too much money on Y2K?,' 'What
exactly will fail?,' 'Can you identify the embedded systems which
fail?,' 'Have we done enough?,' 'Did we leave things [until] too
late?' These are all legitimate questions, but the question 'Is it
real?' is now beyond my understanding," de Jager wrote.
The Prepare4Y2K site (www.prepare4y2k.com/) "contains advice, opinion,
rumor, speculation and innuendo" along with links to other Y2K sites,
PC World wrote.
The site called "A Survival Guide for the Year 2000 Problem"
(www.SurviveY2K.com/), offers a bleak, highly opinionated assessment
of Y2K. Its author writes, "At best, [Y2K] will cause widespread
economic disruptions. At its very worst, it could bring the greatest
economic calamity the world has known since the Great Depression."
The Joseph Project 2000 Web (www.josephproject2000.org/) says it wants
to help Christians prepare for Y2K so they will be ready to aid their
communities. One article says, "Every church pastor, ministry director
and charity manager must recognize the fact that the demands on their
organization are highly likely to increase as the year 2000 begins to
impact our society."
Sterling Allan's "Greater Things" Web site
(www.greaterthings.com/Word-Number/Y2kbug.htm) suggests that turning
to God will help deal with Y2K computer failures, and might prevent
them altogether.
"Gary North (www.garynorth.com/) is variously described as a visionary
and as an extremist," PC World wrote. On the Y2K issue, "he tends to
fall in with the gloomy crowd." His Web page, in a play on the title
of the famous 1950s science fiction movie "The Day the Earth Stood
Still," refers to Y2K as "The Year the Earth Stands Still."
The Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility organization has
a Web site (www.cpsr.org/program/y2k/) that offers an extensive list
of Y2K rumors, speculation and predictions.
The Duh-2000 Web site is holding a monthly contest for the wackiest
things said about Y2K (www.Duh-2000.com/). One entry, said to be from
The London Times letters to the editor column of Dec. 11 and to have
been received by an insurance policy holder in the United Kingdom:
"Sir, I have received notice of my house buildings insurance renewal.
An enclosure lists various exclusions, among which is loss or damage
caused by equipment failing correctly to recognise data representing
year 2000. The accompanying policy schedule shows the insurance period
to be January 1, 1999, to January 1, 1900."
In addition to the sites named by PC World, there are many others. One
focusing on the needs of individuals (www.you2k.com) is operated by
Keen Innovations, an information technology consulting firm. Two
others are eclectic collections of articles published on Y2K in many
publications (www.y2knews.com/) and (www.y2ktoday.com).
The Year 2000 Journal (www.y2kjournal.com), a magazine about Y2K, is
appalled by survivalists who plan to hide in the wilderness to avoid
an anticipated meltdown of society. With more than a year left, the
magazine says, "Why not spend that time and energy working on the
problem -- not running away from it?"
There also are official state government Web sites, such as the state
of Minnesota's page
(www.state.mn.us/ebranch/admin/ipo/2000/2000.html).
And there are local companies with a business interest in the outcome
of Y2K, such as Twin Cities law firm Leonard, Street and Deinard
(www.year2000team.com/main.htm).
In addition, there are Web-based news sources that post large numbers
of Y2K stories on their Web sites:
The New York Times
(www.nytimes.com/library/tech/reference/millennium-index.html).
The Star Tribune (www2.startribune.com/stOnLine/html/business.shtml).
Once at the site, click on "Y2K coverage" in the "Section Index."
CNET News.com
(www.news.com/Categories/Index/0,3,87,00.html?st.ne.nav..y2kidx).
-----------
Also in this issue:
- Doctors offered free Y2K upgrades
NEWARK, N.J. -- Some 15,000 medical offices across the nation are
being offered free software to settle a class-action lawsuit against
a Florida company over a Year 2000 computer problem.
- Plenty of Y2K Web sites, good and bad
The Y2K issue provokes strong reactions from many people, and one
way to sample that diversity is to read some of the many Internet
Web pages devoted to the subject.
- UK NetYear: Pushing the cause of information technology
UK NetYear, which helped to get more than 4,000 schools connected to
the Internet, is winding up its operations.
- Japan Internet suicide probe
Police in Japan are trying to track down two people suspected of
buying cyanide capsules from an Internet site which operates a
suicide service.
- E-MAIL FILLS GENERATION GAPS
PUT your feet up on the coffee table, pour yourself a glass of
merlot (light a cigarette if you like), get out your laptop and type
an e-mail note to mom and dad.
- Internet helps professors catch plagiarized term papers
SEATTLE (AP) -- Some years ago, college students began using the
Internet to buy, sell, distribute and copy term papers. Now
professors are using the Internet to catch plagiarism.
- New Lists and Journals
* NEW: USELESS FACTS DAILY
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* CHANGE: LatinITNews - email discussion group for software/IT
marketing professionals in the Americas
- Sunday Supplement
The Inter@ctive 101: The Year In Review
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