Internet blackout looms for thousands: What you need to know

[GodFearinGunTotin]

I'm confused about your position. It sounds like you're complaining that the IT world did all that work to make sure that everything ran smoothly. Are you saying we shouldn't have, and should just have dealt with any problems as they cropped up? That makes no sense.

I'm saying we (me and my group) did a bunch of work testing, re-testing, placing contingencies, updating, backups, etc. for nothing.

Yes, we would have been money ahead to fix problems as they cropped up. And you'll probably say that had we not done all that testing we wouldn't have known--fair enough, but we still poured a ton of resources into it, even after we told the plant that the risk was of a "Y2K bug" was very low after our first round of investigation.

Except for IT/Plant Floor overlaps, our interface with IT was not extensive--they had their own team, so I cannot speak with authority of all the issues they encountered. But my perception was that there were would have been hickups on 1/1, but nothing would have crashed, no data would have been lost, no body would have been injured, etc.

YMMV.

 

[Scutter01]

I'm saying we (me and my group) did a bunch of work testing, re-testing, placing contingencies, updating, backups, etc. for nothing.

Yes, we would have been money ahead to fix problems as they cropped up. And you'll probably say that had we not done all that testing we wouldn't have known--fair enough, but we still poured a ton of resources into it, even after we told the plant that the risk was of a "Y2K bug" was very low after our first round of investigation.

Except for IT/Plant Floor overlaps, our interface with IT was not extensive--they had their own team, so I cannot speak with authority of all the issues they encountered. But my perception was that there were would have been hickups on 1/1, but nothing would have crashed, no data would have been lost, no body would have been injured, etc.

YMMV.

I'm glad that you had so few affected systems. Personally, I worked in several industries in the 90's that would have had some pretty serious problems. At least two (large) companies I did work for would have gone out of business had they not spent the time and effort to fix the problem prior to Y2K. I'm not going to go into detail on that; you're just going to have to take my word for it.

I'm not saying the media didn't blow it out of proportion. They did. I'm saying that the work still needed to be done. It just amazes me the sheer number of people who complain that the work got done and that nothing major happened. It's like they would have preferred chaos. I suppose it's the same people who go to a NASCAR race and demand their money back when there are no wrecks.

 

[GodFearinGunTotin]

I'm glad that you had so few affected systems. Personally, I worked in several industries in the 90's that would have had some pretty serious problems. At least two (large) companies I did work for would have gone out of business had they not spent the time and effort to fix the problem prior to Y2K. I'm not going to go into detail on that; you're just going to have to take my word for it.

I'm not saying the media didn't blow it out of proportion. They did. I'm saying that the work still needed to be done. It just amazes me the sheer number of people who complain that the work got done and that nothing major happened. It's like they would have preferred chaos. I suppose it's the same people who go to a NASCAR race and demand their money back when there are no wrecks.

I certainly can't speak for what you saw...If you said so, that's good enough for me. Just like, you'll have to take my word on my experiences.

It's like everything else, the media gets a hold of something and they have a 24/7 news cycle to fill and they've mastered it.

 

[Fletch]

I'm glad that you had so few affected systems. Personally, I worked in several industries in the 90's that would have had some pretty serious problems. At least two (large) companies I did work for would have gone out of business had they not spent the time and effort to fix the problem prior to Y2K. I'm not going to go into detail on that; you're just going to have to take my word for it.

I'm not saying the media didn't blow it out of proportion. They did. I'm saying that the work still needed to be done. It just amazes me the sheer number of people who complain that the work got done and that nothing major happened. It's like they would have preferred chaos. I suppose it's the same people who go to a NASCAR race and demand their money back when there are no wrecks.

I was another Y2K worker.

 

[jeremy]

I was another Y2K worker.

Another one of those bastages that caused me to have a Bar tab from hell...

 

[eldirector]

Not really another Y2K "worker" (I'm not a programmer/developer), but I got to apply plenty of patches and perform plenty of new implementations. That was a disaster averted by good planning. Same with the 32-bit date problem (largely addressed, thanks to Y2K), and same with the time zone change (to daylight saving).

A good IT shop never gets credit for what they do, because the average worker never notices. That's the point. Of course, everyone pops a gasket when they pressed "OK" on the "Are you sure you want to delete everything in the universe" dialog box. Somehow THAT is an IT problem.

 

[Scutter01]

A good IT shop never gets credit for what they do, because the average worker never notices. That's the point. Of course, everyone pops a gasket when they pressed "OK" on the "Are you sure you want to delete everything in the universe" dialog box. Somehow THAT is an IT problem.

I tell my boss that the best IT worker is the one you never see. That means he's automated everything to the point where it's largely self-healing. IF you see them running around fighting fires, it's because they haven't planned well enough.

 

[Ted]

I tell my boss that the best IT worker is the one you never see. That means he's automated everything to the point where it's largely self-healing. IF you see them running around fighting fires, it's because they haven't planned well enough.

That is pretty much true of any worker.

An ounce of prevention............................

 

[eldirector]

That is pretty much true of any worker.

An ounce of prevention............................

You haven't met my coworkers, or half the management....

 

[Caleb]

Well nuking is very good. Best way to ensure everyting dies.

I thought I was the only weird one doing it...I would do it every two weeks

 

[jeremy]

Not really another Y2K "worker" (I'm not a programmer/developer), but I got to apply plenty of patches and perform plenty of new implementations. That was a disaster averted by good planning. Same with the 32-bit date problem (largely addressed, thanks to Y2K), and same with the time zone change (to daylight saving).

A good IT shop never gets credit for what they do, because the average worker never notices. That's the point. Of course, everyone pops a gasket when they pressed "OK" on the "Are you sure you want to delete everything in the universe" dialog box. Somehow THAT is an IT problem.

Soooo...

How exactly do I get to the "Are you sure you want to delete everything in the Universe" dialog box?!

 

[Scutter01]

Soooo...

How exactly do I get to the "Are you sure you want to delete everything in the Universe" dialog box?!

 

[jeremy]

I keep attempting to select the little Yellow Triangle with an A in it on your screen, and nothing happens...

 

[Scutter01]

I keep attempting to select the little Yellow Triangle with an A in it on your screen, and nothing happens...

Have you tried rebooting?

 

[jeremy]

Have you tried rebooting?

Twice...

I even took the battery out for a little bit...

 

[Scutter01]

Twice...

I even took the battery out for a little bit...

It's user error. You meant to click "yes", but you unplugged your mouse and plugged it into the dog instead. I see it all the time.

 

[jeremy]

It's user error. You meant to click "yes", but you unplugged your mouse and plugged it into the dog instead. I see it all the time.

That could explain the pained look on his face...

 

[sharkey]

Rebooting won't help here. You need to use the "fdisk /mbr" sector cleaning utility.

 

[powerstrokin]

Have you tried adding more jets to the flying schedule?