Before long, you will only have to hold up two fingers. That's not much time to test and correct unproven mainframe applications. Testing those programs with special Y2K software tools is fine, the next best thing, but you will not know for sure how your programs will react until they are machine-tested. That's because the tools review the programs in isolation. They cannot simulate how the programs will interact with all the other systems software, as they will have to do in the production environment.
Time is the imperative.
As we expected, interest is rising. Several agencies have called recently to discuss testing. There will probably be competition for the weekdays remaining between now and the first of the year. And the later in the year, the greater the likelihood of contention. Agencies may share test time but that is strictly up to the agency that reserved the time in the first place.