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Macintosh Users In The Dark On Y2K
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By Jim Lord |
December 14, 1998
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 "There is none so blind as he who will not see."
(Ray Stevens - Everything is Beautiful)
It's time to revisit the Macintosh Y2K issue. There is continued confusion in the Macintosh community about the exposure of those computing platforms to Year 2000 problems. So let's say it once again as clearly and as emphatically as possible, Y2K AFFECTS MACINTOSH COMPUTERS.
Here's why. Picture in your mind a huge cake - over EIGHT feet high. The cake has four layers. The first and second layers are very skinny, just one inch high. The third layer is much thicker - twenty-one inches, just short of two feet tall. The top layer is the eye-popper, however at six foot five inches tall.
This megacake represents a personal computer and the layers are the different components of the system. The first of two skinny layers at the bottom is the hardware part of the computing system - the physical machine, its electronic circuitry and the permanent computer code (firmware) embedded therein.
The second one-inch layer represents the computer's operating system, the software that "glues together" all the physical components and provides an interface for you, the human user of the system.
The third layer is the application software. Word processing, spreadsheet, database, accounting and the other stuff used to accomplish actual work.
The final layer, the big one, represents the data files created by the user.
Now, why the crazy sizes for these layers?
At this stage of the Year 2000 Computing Crisis, tens of thousands of desktop computing systems have been "purged" of the "Millennium Bug." A great deal of data have been compiled on the costs of the remediation of these systems. These data indicate the remediation costs are distributed in this manner:
- Less than 1% is used to repair hardware
- Just over 1% is spent on operating systems
- 21% is expended replacing or upgrading application software
- 77% is used to correct data (includes data sharing issues)
(Note: These data are from the UK firm, Greenwich Mean Time.)
The essential truth about the Y2K exposure of desktop computing systems is this:
(1) PC's (IBM and clones) are affected in all four layers of the cake.
(2) Macintosh computers are immune in the two skinny layers but are impacted in the other two layers.
In other words, Macintosh users don't have to worry about the first two inches of that eight-foot high cake. The other ninety-eight inches, however, have just as many Y2K problems as PC platforms. That's not very much to chirp about.
A Westergaard reader, Martyn Fribbens, expresses the situation clearly in a recent e-mail,
"Too many Mac Users and Mac magazines are busy gloating that 'their' systems are compliant. It extends the myth that if you have compliant hardware your PC/Mac won't suffer Year 2000 related problems. It misses the major point that the applications and the data also have to be 'compliant' to correctly manage the Y2K transition. By visiting a web site like Microsoft's Year 2000 product information suite you will find many references to Mac applications that ARE NOT COMPLIANT. Our company (uniquely, we believe) audits Macs and prepares a readiness report exclusively on Mac software. Until we get the Mac world looking at the whole perspective of the issue, (they) will remain ignorant of the extent of the Year 2000 issue."
This week's Tip: If you use a Macintosh computer, you don't have to worry about hardware or operating system problems. You should, however be concerned about your application software, your data and data sharing issues.
If you use a PC, don't stop at the hardware (BIOS) and operating system layers. Evaluate your application software and data as well.
Good Luck!
(Note: last week's article on banking laws indicated the period of public comment on the proposed FDIC profile monitoring regulation lasted through December 27, 1998. A sharp-eyed reader noted the FDIC recently extended the public comment date out to March 8, 1999. The December 7,1998 Federal Register publishes an extensive FDIC commentary on the proposed regulation. The new announcement can be found on the FDIC's website at
www.fdic.gov/lawsregs/fedr/98knocus.txt
Thanks for catching the update.)
Browse the Y2K Tip of the Week Archives for previous editions of this column, and see many more practical Y2K Tips such as these in my book, A Survival Guide for the Year 2000 Problem, a sample of which can be previewed at www.SurviveY2K.com.
Read Jim Lord's Bio
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