IP: three Y2K items from Edupage (I love Chinas solution)

[Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>]

RUSSIA'S Y2K FIX 
The Russian government plans to spend about $500 million to prepare its 
aging computers for the year 2000 date conversion, $12 million of which will 
be contributed by the U.S. through the World Bank. Complicating Russia's 
problems are the fact that it has relied much more heavily on PCs and 
midrange computers rather than larger mainframes. Also, many of its 
PC-based applications are written in nontraditional programming languages. 
To solve this last problem, a group of computer scientists at the University 
of St. Petersburg has been working for seven years to develop the technology 
to convert Russian systems into more universally used computer languages 
such as C++ and Java, assisted by North Carolina-based Relativity 
Technologies. (TechWeb 15 Jan 99) 

CHINA'S Y2K FIX 
China has given its airline CEOs an ultimatum for fixing the Y2K problem: 
"All the heads of the airlines have got to be in the air on Jan. 1, 2000," 
says Zhao Bo, who's in charge of dealing with Y2K issues at the Chinese 
Ministry of Information Industries. "We have to make sure there are no 
problems in aviation." Zhao's ministry has a particularly vexing dilemma: 
because 90% of the software used in China is pirated, technicians cannot 
consult the manufacturers on how to fix the bug. Accordingly, the Ministry 
of Information Industries has trained more than 5,000 freelance fixers who 
will fan out across the country to work on computer systems, and the 
government has published a list of emergency procedures for computer users. 
(St. Petersburg Times 15 Jan 99)
U.S.'s Y2K FIX 
U.S. state governments are working overtime to indemnify themselves against 
lawsuits arising from computer system failures engendered by the Y2K 
problem. Nevada, Florida, Georgia and Virginia already have enacted 
legislation barring Y2K lawsuits against state governments, and similar 
legislation is under consideration in New York, California, Illinois and a 
handful of other states. Supporters of such bills say they're needed to 
protect taxpayers from potentially huge judgments. "We wanted to make sure 
that if the state did all it could to prevent a problem that the people of 
Georgia wouldn't suffer," says Georgia state Senator Sonny Perdue. 
Meanwhile, state chambers of commerce say it's not fair to immunize state 
governments while leaving businesses still liable. And the U.S. Chamber of 
Commerce has proposed that Congress create a new federal court modeled after 
bankruptcy court to handle what's expected to be a flood of Y2K lawsuits. 
(Wall Street Journal 15 Jan 99)