Released early this year by Forrester Research, of Cambridge, Massachusetts, a report says that large corporations are barely 34 percent into the year 2000 bug disinfecting process. Making matters worse, many embedded programs are beyond repair because they are inscribed on silicon chips, thus necessitating expensive computer numerically controlled systems to be scrapped and replaced. The U.S. Department of Defense, which has a high percentage of embedded systems is not happy. Troubleshooters cannot relax. Computers misinterpreting 00 year dates are already issuing demented instructions.
Dry runs reveal a threat of massive cutoffs in vital services.
The first year 2000 lawsuits are ringing up billable hours. Meanwhile, the magnitude and implications of the problem continue to elicit attitudes ranging from oracular to negligent unconcern. The United Nations has adopted a resolution urging all nations to attach a high priority to solving the Y2K problems. Government and business inaction has convinced some observers to raise the odds of a recession to 70 percent and rate its severity as being far worse than the one sparked by the Arab oil embargo in 1973-74. A recession could start as early as 1999 if investors start to pull out of the stock market.