Consumers need to assess the Y2K impact on their lives

Fact or fiction? It's midnight, Dec. 31, 1999. When the lights go out, it's not because of the New Year celebration, but rather, because the utility company's computer systems weren't converted to recognize the year 2000.

Is this scenario just year 2000 hype, or an actual possibility? The answer is, it depends.

Many industries are addressing the glitch in computer programs that were built with only two digits to represent dates. The problem is Y2k, as it is commonly called, is extremely expensive to fix, and many companies, particularly smaller ones, don't have the resources to address the issue. If ignored, when the century changes to 2000, computers will respond as if it is actually 1900, which will have enormous implications and wreak havoc on people's daily lives. Things everyone takes for granted: running water, heat, and the ability to take money out of an ATM machine, or make a phone call, all might fail to work properly.

"It's not hype if Y2k is not fixed," says Harris Miller, president of the Information Technology Association of America, a national trade association for the computer industry, based in Arlington, Va. "You will have a situation with financial services and telecommunications and city services breaking down. These problems do exist, the open question is, will they be fixed in time?"

With such doom and gloom predictions of what could go wrong, what's a consumer to do?

Miller advocates the proactive, aggressive approach for consumer, investor, and citizen. "Talk to the local gas station, the manager of the grocery store, the banker, whatever merchants you do a lot of business with, and ask those merchants if they're going to be Y2K compliant," he says. "If you're not satisfied with the answer, change merchants. Give yourself alternatives, and by doing that, it will force them to change."

The same goes for investments made in company pension plans, mutual funds, and individual stocks. Contact your broker, and ensure that inquiries are made with the investor relations departments of all financial companies with which you do business.

Since many medical devices contain embedded chips, people who use them to administer medication should contact the vendor supplying the product to check that it is year 2000 compliant.

Other time-sensitive chips are found in a multitude of household products, including microwave ovens, answering machines, fax machines, and alarm systems, to name a few. Some products can be checked to see if they will work in the new century by simply pushing the date forward. Any that malfunction will likely have to be replaced.

Miller also recommends people contact their mayors, school boards, local police departments, governor, and congressmen, to indicate their concern about the severity of the problem. "It's a lot more productive than running for the hills," says Miller, "and it's a much more productive way for Americans to work together, rather than look out for themselves."

A recent ITAA poll of 1,000 people indicated 23 percent of respondents are worried the year 2000 conversion issue will impact their lives. "We were surprised because before, there was a sense this was a problem for techies and the average citizen didn't understand the issue and wasn't concerned," says Miller. "If people think it's going to change their lifestyle, it's obviously something political leaders should be paying attention to."

With millions of personal computers running software for managing personal finances, it's also important to check to ensure the BIOS (the computer's clock) and all programs will operate properly in 2000, says Scott Nathan, an attorney with Nathan & Voltz, P.A. in Franklin, who specializes in year 2000 issues. `To the extent they find applications currently running that won't be compliant, they need to spend time looking to purchase or install new or upgraded versions of that software so they don't lose data," he says.

Don't assume that recently purchased computer hardware is compliant, Nathan warns, noting that he worked with a major airline that purchased laptops earlier this year, only to discover half were compliant and half were not.

There are also products and services that will scan personal computers to check date fields in programs and hardware. OnMark 2000 is free software from Viasoft Inc. that can be downloaded from the company's Web site (www.onmark.viasoft.com/download/fix.html) and will work on any Intel-based PC or notebook. Once the program is downloaded, it will test the machine's BIOS.

Another product, Know2000 (www.know-2000.com), is available for $19.95 from the Year 2000 Group in Medway. Know2000 is a set of two disks that takes 20 minutes to run. It checks 3,500 of the most popular consumer software applications for home use, and if any are found non-compliant, it directs people to information about what to do. For more information, call 800-206-6009.

There's no shortage of information about the topic on the Web. Read how the Commonwealth is handling its year 2000 project at: www.state.ma.us/y2k/. Two other noteworthy sites are at: www.tyler.net/tyr7020/y2kinput.htm, and www.year2000.com.

So while people should take inventory of their computers and time-sensitive home products, as well as services that impact their lives, there's no need to panic.

"In the end, the problems society at large will experience will simply not shut down the world," says Nathan. "But I think it's fair to say there will be places where losses will occur. So to the extent people need confidence, they will not be impacted, they need to pressure their service providers concerning compliance. And to the extent they have an opportunity to upgrade [computer hardware and software], they should."