ITAA's Year 2000 Outlook March 26, 1999 Volume 4, No. 12 Published by the Information Technology Association of America, Arlington, VA Bob Cohen, Editor bcohen@itaa.org Read in over 80 countries around the world ITAA's Year 2000 Outlook is published every Friday to help all organizations deal more effectively with the Year 2000 software conversion. To create a subscription to this free publication, please visit ITAA on the web at https://www.itaa.org/transact/2ko utlooksub.htm. To cancel an existing subscription, visit https://www.itaa.org/transact/2kremove.htm. ITAA's Year 2000 Outlook is sponsored in part by CACI International Inc., DMR Consulting Group Inc and Y2Kplus. In this issue: · Illinois Federal Court Dismisses Microsoft Lawsuit · HUD Rolls Videotape to Help Housing Authorities · Congress Passes Bill to Aid Small Business Y2K · Y2K Reports Issued as Federal Deadline Nears · ITAA Y2K Information Center · Sponsor Advertising Illinois Federal Court Dismisses Microsoft Lawsuit A class action lawsuit against Microsoft Corporation originally filed by plaintiff Ruth Kaczmarek of Naperville, Illinois was dismissed with prejudice by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois earlier this week. The case had allege d that certain versions of the Microsoft's FoxPro database software contained a defect in handling dates after Dec. 31, 1999. Kaczmarek had argued that because of the defect, Microsoft had breached warranties and committed negligence in the software's des ign. The FoxPro-related issue centers around a feature of the database software called the Century function. According to the manufacturer, when flipped "on" the function allows dates to be processed into the next century; set to ``off,'' it assumes two-digit years to be within the 20th century. Microsoft made this information available in the product manual and on its year 2000 Web site. In its opinion, the court said, ``As we near the 21st century, the media has focused on many potential Y2K problems. This focus will inevitably lead to much litigation ... which the courts will need to determine is meritful or meritless. Unfortunately for the plaintiff, we find this lawsuit falls in the latter category.'' ``This is an important win for Microsoft,'' said Andy Culbert, a corporate attorney at Microsoft. ``This case shows that Microsoft has acted in a responsible and pro-consumer manner with respect to its products and year 2000. The court's dismissal of this case with prejudice sends a strong message that should deter groundless year 2000 litigation.'' The court found that Microsoft had made it clear in the manual for FoxPro how the software handles dates and that the plaintiff's claim was without merit. ``Kaczmarek's main problem is that there is nothing inherently wrong with computer software that ass umes that a two-digit year entry means the 20th century, particularly when the default setting is disclosed as part of the contract,'' the court said. HUD Rolls Videotape to Help Housing Authorities What is the Department of Housing and Urban Development telling housing authorities and managers about Y2K? For starters, according to its web site, "We must fix this problem and put backup plans into place because no federal, state, or tribal governmen t, or private company anywhere in the world is immune. Failing to have a backup plan; and failing to ensure that your computer systems, embedded chips, and services are Year 2000 compliant could result in placing residents-particularly the elderly and chi ldren-in physical danger!" HUD is sending 18,000 copies of a video and workbook, both entitled "Six Steps to Year 2000 Readiness" to housing authorities and managers of HUD-subsidized housing in an all-out effort to instruct them on Y2K compliance techniques. The workbook is also available from HUD's web site for users to download at http://www.hud.gov/cio/year2000. They provide instructions for efficient Y2K assessment, contingency planning and fixes for non-compliant elements in a six-step format that includes checklists, resou rce lists, and basic information on how to get started. A six-step program to Y2K salvation? While the workbook is a good starting point for those landlords who haven't addressed their millennium problems, it stops short of guaranteeing that these steps are fool proof. HUD does say that following these steps will "definitely reduce risk and liability." The first step, according to the workbook, is to form a team. Assign members of the team to each of the steps, and emphasize accountability. Decide how the team will communicate with housing residents. Next, the team must define, review and identify cr itical business functions based on a checklist of critical business functions provided by HUD for step two. Step three requires reducing critical functions down to individual technology elements, and provides a Critical Function Breakdown Worksheet. In step four, perhaps the most crucial, teams assess individual elements for Year 2000 compliance. Step five creates contingency plans based on failure scenarios for each element of critical functions, and establishes a timeline for implementing any workaro unds that become necessary. Finally, Step six instructs landlords to determine fix solutions for all non-compliant elements. Sample fix solutions include purchasing new PCs, switching vendors, purchasing software upgrades as provided by software produce rs, and assigning in-house programmers to specialized software products. The workbook may also be useful for others who have not yet started Y2K planning, particularly commercial and residential real estate developers and managers, and more generally, small business owners. HUD says it has already prepared all of its own computer systems for Y2K. Congress Passes Bill to Aid Small Business Y2K The U.S. House of Representatives voted Tuesday to create a $500 million loan for small businesses fixing their computer systems for Y2K. The Small Business Year 2000 Readiness Act, approved by the House this week and previously in the Senate, is intend ed to help small businesses buy new computers or upgrade existing equipment. Under the legislation, the program would also provide financial assistance to small business owners caught up in the computer breakdowns of major suppliers, customers or creditor s. Many small and mid-sized businesses are suspected to lag behind in Y2K efforts. A study by the National Federation of Independent Businesses (NFIB) released earlier this year indicates more than 4.5 million small businesses use computers and 47 percent s ay they are "very dependent" on them. A third of these small businesses plan to take no action on the Year 2000 whatsoever. Another five percent have never heard of the Millennium bug. Considering that 98 percent of all businesses in America are small businesses, and that small businesses employ almost 60 percent of the U.S. workforce and produce almost 40 percent of Gross Domestic Product, this bill could not be more timely. The bill would require the Small Business Administration to create a temporary ``Y2K loan program,'' making available about $500 million in loans through Dec. 31, 2000. Average loan amounts are expected to be in the $25,000 range. Y2K Reports Issued as Federal Deadline Nears With the Federal government's self-imposed March 31 Y2K done date looming, the Office of Management and Budget estimates that 80% of federal mission-critical systems have crossed the finish line but finds that three major federal agencies are essentially sucking wind. OMB called progress "inadequate" at the U.S. Department of Transportation, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the U.S. Agency for International Development. Also released this week, a survey by the Inspector General of the Health and Human Services Department finds about half of HCFA's Medicare providers report that their billing and records systems have been fixed. Worse still, less than one-third say they have finished medical equipment testing. The percentage of hospitals, nursing homes and doctors reporting testing data exchanges between their systems and vendors was less than 20 percent. And less than half of respondents had developed contingency plan s for Year 2000. OMB also revised up its estimate of Y2K-related costs to the taxpayer to $6.8 billion. This increase is nearly $3 billion more than an estimate made one year ago. ITAA Y2K Information Center Solution Providers Directory http://www.itaa.org/script/2000vend.cfm ITAA*2000 Certification Program http://www.itaa.org/2000cert.htm Outlook Archive http://www.itaa.org/script/get2klet.cfm Legislative and Litigation Table http://www.itaa.org/year2000/legis.htm Calendar http://www.itaa.org/y2kcal.htm Vendor/User Status Questionnaires http://www.itaa.org/questmain1.htm Alternate Dispute Resolution (ADR) http://www.itaa.org/year2000/adr.htm Statement of Intention to Use ADR http://www.itaa.org/year2000/soi.htm, Y2K Mediators Seminar http://www.technologymediation.com/Y2K_seminar.htm Copyright ITAA 1999. All rights reserved. The Information Technology Association of America, 1616 N. Fort Myer Drive, Suite 1300