No `Bug' miracles here

IPOH: Many companies are waiting for the traditional "silver bullet" solution in addressing the Year 2000 (Y2K) computer problem that looms overhead as they move towards the 21st century.

According to Future Connections Sdn Bhd managing director Billy Chia, most companies are reluctant to tackle the problem and are hoping for a "miracle" -- like a free software patch that would resolve their Millennium Bug problem.

He said that their reluctance was further compounded by the fact that they had already invested heavily in computer hardware over the last three years.

"Unfortunately, the majority of these companies bought either high end 486 PCs and classic Pentiums powered by 60MHz to 100MHz processors which are not Y2K compliant," he said.

He also added that most companies outside the Klang Valley do not have a budget for the Y2K problem.

Earlier, Chia announced that DataTrend Sdn Bhd has been appointed as Future Connections' main dealer for Uniwell Millennium Bug Toolkit products in Perak.

Future Connections has three other master dealers covering the central and northern regions, as well as Sabah and Sarawak.

The Millennium Bug Toolkit, launched here in May, can scan and test PCs and list out the non-compliant areas that need to be fixed.

Chia said that the company has sold 100 licences nationwide since the May launch.

He said that the toolkit was unique because it allowed organisations to retain their older generation PCs as long as they were functional.

"They just need to run the compliancy test and make necessary changes so their systems can continue to perform beyond Year 2000. They won't need to scrap their PCs," he claimed.

The toolkit, however, is unable to check the compliancy of applications as not all applications need to be compliant as long as the PC motherboard is Y2K ready.

The toolkit will run a series of hardware tests to identify areas which need fixing and will fix it. It is also able to identify applications that need to be fixed as well.