Regular people have to worry about their VCRs and coffee makers.
Which got the folks over at the Federal Trade Commission to wonder, on behalf of the average consumer, what will happen to all those little things around the house that have timers of some sort in them. Obviously, there's the personal computer to worry about, but just look around and see how many other life-enhancing electronic products could also be suspect. In May, the agency sought answers to those questions and challenged manufacturers to describe what they are doing about Year 2000 problems. The answer by makers of consumer electronics was soothing. It said software is available to fix the problem in older personal computers.