If you have recent versions of software packages from major vendors and have gotten the Y2K upgrades or if you have older versions that have been updated for Y2K compliance, you’ve immunized yourself from the millennium bug, right?
Not necessarily, according to Infoliant Corp., a Pittsburgh-based company that keeps track of the Y2K compliance status of some 33,000 hardware and software products. As it turns out, some software packages that were thought to be Y2K compliant were discovered to have Y2K defects. Big companies such as NEC, Hewlett-Packard, Netscape, Novell and Xerox reported changes in April, according to Infoliant.
Many software products — and a considerable number from major companies — either have not been upgraded to Y2K compliance or have been returned to noncompliant status since a previous upgrade. In some cases, says Infoliant, packages won’t be upgraded at all.
The number of compliance status changes began to take a steep climb early this year. Among those are a large number of negative changes, or products deemed noncompliant in some fashion. In April, Infoliant tracked 604 commercial products that underwent a compliance change. Of those, 216 were negative changes, that is, disclosure of previously unknown Y2K issues or discontinuation of manufacturer support for Y2K issues. Infoliant officials say they suspect that as the rush to achieve compliance quickens, the numbers of negative changes could rise commensurately.
The bottom line for software users: Make sure your systems are compliant. Check with the manufacturer to be sure the company hasn’t upgraded the software since you purchased your package or took the last upgrade. Oh, and it might not be a bad idea to do a final check before you pop the corks on Dec. 31. We’ll keep you posted.
Ray Marano