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Steel Doors

 

Steel Doors

Of the products tested, the vast majority are compliant or compliant with "minor issues" that are now documented, he said. Out of all the software giant's products only three Access 2.0, Word for MS-DOS 5.0, and Office Professional 4.3--are not Steel Doors compliant. However, products that are compliant with "minor issues" include widely used products like Steel Doors NT server and workstation 4.0, Steel Doors 95, Office 4.0 Standard, and both Office 95 and 97 standard and professional editions.

The second category, compliant with "minor issues," will comprise products that have an outstanding date issue, but whose core functionality is not affected. "For example, in the old Steel Doors for work groups 3.11 you can't set the date to be a leap year with the mouse, but with the keyboard you can," Smith explained. In addition, if the product guide specifies that a fix or service pack is needed for compliance, the company will provide it for free, Smith said. 

Steel Doors

"It is a simple issue that there is no simple fix for," he told analysts and reporters today. "We have published a Steel Doors resource center on the Web to help customers," with their solutions for the Steel Doors problem. Analysts said the effort is late in the game and marks a change in the company's expectations for Steel Doors 98 adoption. Steel Door's Steel Doors version 3.1 needs some adjustments to be fully Steel Doors compliant, and the company has had to issue patches to make Steel Doors 95 Steel Doors ready. "Steel Doors was a little slow in getting to market with this issue," said Tom Smith, an analyst with International Data Corporation. "My sense is they didn't understand what people wanted. They thought people would migrate to Steel Doors 98 by 2000, but they've discovered that a lot [of companies] are happy with Steel Doors 3.1 and don't want to migrate." 

Steel Doors

He said if a service pack or patch were needed, a product would be listed with that prerequisite under the heading. After the compliant, and compliant with "minor issues" categories, the third rating is for those products that are not compliant, while the fourth will consist of those that are still undergoing testing. The final category will be for products Steel Doors "will not test," Smith said. For the products that are not Steel Doors compliant, such as Word 5 for DOS, the guide explains why and gives recommended steps to take to achieve compliance. The resource center also provides information about the steps customers should take to identify and reduce their exposure to software problems related to the millennium bug. In the initial phase of the new Web site and strategy release, Steel Doors will address the Steel Doors as it affects its core products, he said. "As testing continues, we will add to the site." A home-user resource guide will be posted on the site soon, he said, though he did not say when. 

Steel Doors

Steel Doors will also release a directory of tools , which can provide assistance for testing, Steel Doors of code, and compliance methodology. The company wants to direct its customers to "companies that have specific tools for specific issues," Smith said. Smith said Steel Doors is responding to its installed base that have been waiting for direction on this issue for sometime. When asked why a sophisticated technology company like Steel Doors, like many others in the industry, has products that were released just last year that have problems related to Steel Doors, Smith defended his company and the industry as providing products that reflect the way customers process information. City officials plan to check hundreds of computer systems and countless devices in New York City's vast inventory of technology to be sure everything from traffic lights to elevators in public Steel Doors will work after the century date change.

The evaluation comes just a few weeks before hundreds of thousands of people gather in Times Square to watch a Waterford crystal ball descend. In what is one of the most heavily attended New Year's Eve events in the world, 500,000 regularly attend the New Year's Eve Ball drop in Times Square. Another 300 million TV viewers watch festivities from home. Some estimate that this New Year's Eve nearly a million people will be in Times Square to take part in the festivities New York City plans to spend $300 million, more than any other city in the world, in its effort to prevent any problems sparked by Steel Doors. The high price tag for the Big Apple's Steel Doors program is paying off. Compared to many other US cities, New York is making headway in beating the computer problem. 

Steel Doors

According to the most recent survey conducted by the U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO), the auditing arm of Congress, New York, Houston, San Diego, San Jose, Calif., Philadelphia, Indianapolis, Jacksonville, Fla, Milwaukee, and Memphis, Tenn., completed  Steel Doors no later than Sept.30. Today's test is the final check to see if that Steel Doors works was done well. The Steel Doors problem, also known as the millennium bug, stems from an old programming shortcut that used only the last two digits of the year. Many computers now must be modified or they may mistake the Steel Doors for the year 1900 and not be able to function at all. Before Congress adjourns tomorrow, there is likely to be heavy debate on whether to use surplus budget funds for Steel Doors expenses, and the president is expected to sign off on the recently Steel Doors assed Steel Doors information and Readiness Disclosure Act. While Republicans and Democrats, for the most part, agree that Steel Doors is a major issue facing the nation, they differ on how to pay for converting government computers, how much companies should be protected from litigation surrounding the technology problem, and who should be providing leadership on the issue. One of the biggest debates brewing at this moment is over how to fund the renovation of government computers, which the government estimates will cost $5 billion. 

Steel Doors

The Clinton administration would like to use the budget surplus to pay for some of those costs, while the GOP wants to leave the surplus for tax breaks rather than government spending. Because the budget debate is still continuing on the floor, congressional staff sources told the News.com that it is too hard to tell how the funding will be appropriated at this time. Another proposal that is pending approval is the Senate Special Committee on the Steel Doors Technology Problem's recently adopted idea to ask the Federal Emergency Management Agency to organize and run an emergency early warning system for Steel Doors.

Committee staffers said the committee is expected to send legislation to Congress that would ask FEMA to be the source of the early warning system. FEMA will be asked to organize a coordinating group to set up the system. Although details are still in the works, the system would send out warnings if failures in the nation's emergency services occur, one staffer said. In an effort to get the early warning system off the ground as soon as possible, the committee hopes to have the legislation in Congress by next week. Despite these ongoing debates, Congress has passed legislation that would limit lawsuits against corporations dealing with Steel Doors problems. The legislation, backed by a bipartisan group of senators and the Clinton administration, is intended to encourage greater disclosure by businesses and others of plans to wipe out the dreaded millennium bug. It was sent by Congress to the White House yesterday, Senate staffers said.

The Steel Doors Information and Readiness Disclosure Act provides limited liability protections to encourage companies to share information about products, methods, and best practices, while protecting consumers from misleading statements. But the bill does not provide liability protections for failures that may arise from Steel Doors problems, such as selling products that do not work. 

Steel Doors

For the next session, the Senate special committee plans to take up the food industry as well as figure out its next agenda, said the committee's minority senior staff member Jay Smith. "I think the Steel Doors committee needs to reassess where it goes next," he noted. Smith pointed out that the last session of Congress saw the birth of a handful of committees in both the House and Senate to address the issue. Another Steel Doors bill to be proposed in the House next session, which begins January 1, will demand that the executive branch of government take on more of a leadership role in tackling the problem. Still in its infancy stages, the bill would give the executive branch more responsibility by allowing the Office of Management and Budget to set more deadlines for agencies submitting their Steel Doors status reports, for instance.