Y2K bug prepare well or be ready to crash

"Microsoft will just come up with something at the last minute that will take care of the problem." That was the stubborn opinion of one confused Irish computer user a few months back, voiced during a discussion on the Year 2000 problem.

Hearing this, Mr Jason Matusow's eyes open wide in disbelief and he laughs a dry laugh. "I've actually had people who say" his voice drops into a conspiratorial tone "Bill Gates has the fix for this, and he's going to release it on December 31st and make millions of bucks".

He laughs again, then, growing serious, adds emphatically: "There is no silver bullet for this."

Perhaps unenviably, Mr Matusow is the man Microsoft has named its "Year 2000 strategy manager". He was recently in London, on loan from Microsoft headquarters in Redmond, Washington to preach the bad news basically that the Year 2000 problem is upon is, is unavoidable in most cases, and will undoubtedly wreak international havoc.

The only solution is to be prepared, and Mr Matusow outlined the ways in which Microsoft, the software company which affects more home and business computer users than any other, is being proactive.

The Year 2000 problem, or Millennium Bug, is the imminent computer crisis resulting from the fact that most computers understand dates as a sequence of six digits, two each for month, day and year. But as the century turns, computers will think that the year 2000 - represented as 00 - is actually 1900. Thus, many computer systems are expected to fail.

The chips now routinely embedded in everything from toasters to automobiles to stoplights are also likely to go on the blink.

Even large companies and government agencies which should have known better have been dragging their feet, but for the most part are instituting some kind of programme.

Now, he thinks the demand for information and cries for help will begin to come from consumers and smaller businesses as they realise the problem affects all computer users.

For many, the natural first port of call will be mighty Microsoft, which runs 90 per cent of computer desktops (between DOS and the various Windows variations) and provides vast swathes of its software: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Internet Explorer, email programs, and consumer titles ranging from dictionaries to the Encarta encyclopedia to Flight Simulator and the interactive Barney dinosaur doll.

Oracle, for example, or Digital or have more narrowly focused product lines. Microsoft sprawls everywhere. "We literally have millions of customers," says Mr Matusow.

Like many other software and hardware manufacturers, Microsoft has established a Website* to handle some of those queries. The site is an interesting example of how a large computer corporation with a vast and varied customer base is trying to address Year 2000 issues.

Legal action is possible from disgruntled customers affected by failing systems on January 1st, 2000. Analysts say cross-industry lawsuits related to the Year 2000 problem could cost Americans a breathtaking $1 trillion (£706 billion). Mr Matusow says: "The legal protection comes from the full disclosure on the Website and through our partners."

"Full disclosure" is the legal term for revealing all possible aspects and impacts of a potential problem, and offering information on how to address the possible problem. One key defence for companies which offer software and hardware will be that they offered a full disclosure of the Year 2000 problem well in advance and in a public way.

Coupled with the Universal Licensing Agreement (ULA) those minutely-worded documents that warn you that by opening your software (or on the Web, clicking "yes" before installing a program), you agree to its terms Mr Matusow feels Microsoft is protecting itself. ULAs usually state you have 90 days in which to report a bug or other defect to a product, and if you do not do so, you are accepting the product as is.

It's perhaps odd then that Microsoft makes its Year 2000 Website so difficult to find. There's no direct link from the company homepage, which is where most users would look for it. Even running a site search under the abbreviation `Y2K' and `Year 2000' only turned up the site peripherally, rather than as a direct link.

But once they have found it, businesses and home users will undoubtedly find it a useful resource on Microsoft products and Year 2000 issues in general. And you don't need to worry about Windows 98. "All future Microsoft products will be released compliant," says Mr Matusow.

*(www.microsoft.com/year2000)

Karlin Lillington is at klillington@irish-times.ie