Nobody knows for sure.
For reasons that tech people have had trouble explaining in English but that people in the field insist are unassailable, a lot of essential computer functions are built atop the programs by which a computer keeps track of the passage of time. Now the computers are poised to enter unmapped territory. All the options are time-consuming. Witnesses before the committee last week reported more indirect effects. Insurers are beginning to provide ''year-2000 insurance'' against damage caused by a company's equipment failing to navigate the date change.