30 December 1999 - 5 January 2000

Millennium Bug for some, Millennium Farce for others

by David Kelleher

While millions of people around the world will be celebrating the start of a new millennium, computer and security experts will be focusing on the problems, if any, caused by the Y2K or millennium bug.

There is no time left to change or repair computer systems, so countries are focusing on contingency plans: what to do if something does go wrong.

Malta is no exception and a National Command Centre has been set up at the Armed Forces' Headquarters in Luqa. From Friday at noon till the following morning, a group of select individuals will be monitoring the situation.

At specified intervals, each of the country's main entities will be filing reports on whether they have encountered any problems. To a certain extent Malta and the rest of Europe are particularly lucky. The first effects of the Y2K bug will be felt in Fiji and Australia where the time difference is nearly 12 hours.

This will allow Y2K teams to pinpoint those areas that were affected by the bug and hopefully correct the problem in time before the rollover.

Although many are fearing a possible disaster scenario, there are others who feel that the whole issue helped a lot of people to grow rich.

"I'm not saying that the problem does not exist but it has been blown up out of proportion. The Y2K has made a lot of people very rich," a Y2K team member told The Malta Business Weekly.

"However, we cannot take risks either," he added.

Contacted by The Malta Business Weekly, the chairman of the Challenge 2000 task force said Malta has already done a lot in this regards and its contingency plans covered all eventualities.

"We have done a lot to tackle the Y2K issue. Nearly all government entities are prepared and have contingency plans in place. There are still some problems with the business sector however," Mr George Papagiorcopulo said.

Asked whether the task force had been inundated with last minute calls, he said that this was not the case although they had two or three individuals who did so.

"Those who approached us for help had not done anything or very little to see that their systems were Y2K compliant. At this stage it is too late do anything but we have advised them to draw up their own contingency plans," Mr Papagiorcopulo said.

The task force is recommending companies to ensure they have adequate contingency plans should anything go wrong.

A number of government entities are doing even more, going as far as making sure that messengers will be on the premises if all other means of communication fail, including mobile phones.

In reality, there is not a lot more that can be done except to be prepared for any eventuality.

Either the Millennium Bug will be remembered as the last catastrophe of the second millennium or simply the most talked about non-event of the century!