Columbia Scrambles with Y2K problem

[mea culpa <jericho () DIMENSIONAL COM>]

Forwarded From: "Vanna P. Rella" <vamprella () chickmail com>

[Vamprella: This is really funny because it says that the Social Security
 Office of the entire country has pirated software.]

http://wire.ap.org/APnews/main.html?FRONTID=TECHNOLOGY&STORYID=APIS71749D80

DECEMBER 07, 01:26 EST

Colombia Scrambles With Y2K Problem

By MARGARITA MARTINEZ
Associated Press Writer

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP)   At age 59, Alvaro Rojas is just a few months from
retirement and worried sick that his entire employment history will be
erased by the dreaded Year 2000 computer bug. So he's seeking a written
record.

``With all this fuss about the change of year, it's better to have
everything on paper,'' Rojas says as he waits in line at a Social Security
office, only to be told the document he needs can't possibly be ready
until after the New Year.

Rojas has good reason to worry. The Social Security Institute, with the
labor history for 4.5 million Colombians, still has not solved its Y2K
problem.

The database software on which all pre-retirement records are kept is not
compliant. The manufacturer says it's pirated. Social Security officials
refuse to buy the upgrade and are working feverishly to migrate all the
data over to a different program   with no guarantee of success.

There are serious questions whether many other crucial government records
systems   particularly in finance and health care   will be ready in time
for the millennium bug. Contingency plans are already in full swing.

Clocks are being turned ahead on airport radars, mounds of public records
are being printed out, some medical devices will be placed out of
commission temporarily and many government workers will be getting their
January paychecks in December.

[snip..]

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