Congress has held hearings on the Year 2000 problem. Newspapers and TV news shows have weighed in with features on it. And an entire industry has sprung up to reap profits. The consultant ranks are swelling. Companies big and small are marketing solutions.
Software programmers versed in old-time computer languages are back in demand.
And Year 2000 T-shirts and coffee mugs are advertised on the Internet. Some pundits have raised the specter of major computer network crashes and catastrophic problems with software controlling everything from bank vaults to satellites to credit-card statements to VCRs. Such predictions are likely overblown. Someone to get their bosses committed, someone with courage. If the city doesn't fix its computers, there's no telling what will happen to crucial records about city property, utility billing, payrolls and municipal work orders, he says.