|
The U.S. Marines have got y2k under control. Not fixed, exactly, but under control. They have created y2k SWAT teams. Apparently they have recruited a few good programmers.
Somehow, I envision Marine boot camp for mainframe programmers like this:
"You know COBOL, maggot?"
"Yes, sir!"
"What do you mean, 'Sir,' digit-mouth? You see any metal on my shoulders? Or do you see stripes? What do stripes mean to you, byte brain?"
"Bar code?"
"Fifty pushups, propeller head. Then 500 lines of Assembler. You know Assembler, data dump?"
"Yes, sergeant!"
You #$%^&* better know it! Now let's see you hit the dirt. One, two, three...."
This is from FEDERAL COMPUTER WEEK (May 18).
* * * * * * *
The Marine Corps "has no reasonable expectations'' that it will have fixed all Year 2000 date code problems in all its computer systems by Jan. 1, 2000, according to Col. Kevin McHale, the Year 2000 honcho at Marine Corps headquarters. McHale said the Marines plan to have Year 2000 SWAT teams standing by at major installations on Jan. 1, 2000. The Marines plan to dispatch these teams rather than provide phone support as the service also has concerns about the effect of Year 2000 problems on the phone network.
|