About a third of the county's 500 personal computers have been tested to see if they will function at the end of this year, he said. All remaining work should be finished by April, Hartley said. The county's finance director, Jane Kiker, said later Thursday that she has not yet calculated the total cost of the fix. The millennium bug, also known as Y2K in computer jargon, is the result of programming techniques developed decades ago when computer memory was much more expensive. To cut costs, programmers truncated years to the last two digits in many programs and the computers that used them.
Experts disagree on the severity of the problem.
Some predict widespread mayhem when machines ranging from airplanes to bank machines break down because of Y2K. Pockets of people have even built hideouts with stockpiles of food and water in preparation for a global catastrophe. Others dismiss doomsday forecasters as chicken littles. Davidson computers cover nearly all government services, including 911 operations, tax collection, zoning permits and library-book filing, Hartley said. In Guilford County, employees are in the middle of updating application programs and personal computers throughout the government, said Barbara Weaver, director of information services. Outlook 2000 Take a look at what's happening in Triad businesses as the year 2000 and the new millennium approach.