Louis Proyect's comments on the Year 2000 problem are indeed eye-raising. What you're saying, then, Louis, is that workers are not disposable units as the corporate honchos want to believe? I'd say we may have the makings of a parable of biblical (and hence doubly millennial) proportions here. The pharoahs have brought this plague on themselves. Whoa! Great insights, Louis. >Louis P: >There's more than meets the eye on this question. About nine years ago >American big-business decided that mainframes were dinosaurs and needed >replacement. By implication mainframe Cobol programmers like myself were >also targeted for extinction. The mainframes cost too much and the >experienced Cobol programmers cost too much. > >Goldman-Sachs fired 60 people like this one day. I reported on the massacre >here. Goldman-Sachs and nearly every other big corporation had a new >strategic direction. Replace the mainframe systems with client-server >systems and hire new programmers fresh out of college who would be more >than happy to work for lower salaries and not complain about longer hours. > >What happened, however, is that client-server was oversold, just the way >that object-orientation has been oversold. Client-server systems were >considered a way to reduce costs, but business soon learned that the cost >of maintaining software on the clients (PC's and Macs) was exorbitant. This >was what I have been doing at Columbian for the past five years or so and >it is time-consuming and complex. > >In the meantime the old mainframe systems did not disappear. They kept >chugging along. When they were not replaced by client-server systems in the >1990s, nobody gave much thought to the year 2000 problem until recently. >Now these firms which kicked out all the graybeard Cobol programmers are >desperately trying to lure them back on a contractual basis. I could make >huge money over the next 3 years or so but will probably stay put. The >downsizing experience I went through in the 1990s left a really bitter >taste in my mouth and I really don't want to go near a place like Chase >Manhattan Bank or Salomon Brothers unless I really have to. I suspect that >big business is facing a huge crisis around this problem. Regards, Tom Walker ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ knoW Ware Communications Vancouver, B.C., CANADA [EMAIL PROTECTED] (604) 688-8296 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ The TimeWork Web: HTTP://WWW.VCN.BC.CA/TIMEWORK/
