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The Flathead Valley may be thought of as a place where the leading opportunities for employment are through timber and manufacturing, where no citizen is more than 20 minutes away from seclusion. Yet when the clock strikes midnight on Jan. 1, 2000, every valley resident is likely to feel some effects of the Y2K bug.
Digital technology is embedded in the lives of every citizen of the United States, whether they live in Kalispell, Mont., or New York City. But, what would happen if the phone lines went dead, cash registers stopped opening, and power outages spread through the Flathead Valley? While some people embrace this scenario, others have a more restrained outlook on the approaching millennium situation.
“I think people are taking it (the year 2000 computer problems) way too far,” said junior Boone Skibsrud. “If things do fail, I think it will be a very temporary thing — it won’t last long.”
Theoretically, any piece of electronic equipment that uses a computer chip could be affected by the Y2K bug, however the companies who provide the services that might be affected are already preparing themselves for the worst. For an in-depth look on how Y2K will affect Flathead Valley, check out page 8. INTERNET While the 1980s may have introduced computers into the American home, it was not until the ‘90s that computers became a mainstream form of entertainment and communication, largely in part to the internet craze. Many local business and close to 10,000 Flathead Valley residents are connected to internet, through PTI Net, DigiSys and other providers.
“We laugh at it (the Y2K bug),” said Lisa Valentino of DigiSys. “For us it’s not a problem, because our machines are based on a totally different time system.”
Although DigiSys itself may not encounter any problems, some of their customers are likely to face computer crashes if they are using outdated software. In simple terms, computers using outdated software are not “Y2K compliant,” because they interpret the two digit year code as 1900 instead of 2000. Many computers, such as computers that run the Windows 3.1 operating systems, are the most likely to go down, according to Valentino.
DigiSys, a local internet access provider, has plugged nearly 7,000 customers into cyberspace since June of 1995. According to Valentino, DigSys has doubled in size since it began. On a typical day, DigiSys admits anywhere from 15 to 32 members, a rate which hasn’t suffered as a result of hype concerning Y2K.
“We are in our busy cycle again,” said Valentino. “We usually see a membership boom after Thanksgiving that runs through March — last year it didn’t really slow down until April.”
Larger national and international service providers, such as AOL or CompuServe, may face backups with their technical support branches.
“Their routers are the same as ours, but those companies have hundreds of tech support people and they will probably have to replace some computers,” said Valentino. “We are small enough that we can just replace any equipment that may be affected or outdated.”
MONEY
Y2K stirs up many concerns, but one that seems to spark the most worry is money. Some fear that the stock market may crash and the country plummet into an economic recession like the depression of 1929. However, several local banks and credit unions have already taken measures to make sure that their systems are “Y2K” ready.
The Whitefish Credit Union is just one of many local businesses that has taken those measures. In a recent letter, WCU reassured its customers about steps they have taken to prevent Y2K problems.
“As of November 30, 1998, all of our programs have been tested and we are satisfied that our computers and programs will work in the year 2000 and thereafter as they have to date,” the Credit Union wrote. “We believe we are as prepared for Y2K in advance of its arrival as is humanly possible.”
The National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) has taken an active role in the preparation for Y2K, including monitoring and checking all Credit Unions. Similar organizations have been established since the 1930s, to ensure that banks and their customers are insured. One of those organizations is the Federal Deposit Insurance Company, or FDIC, which can take over a bank in the case of a disaster and insure $100,000 per account.
Glacier Bank, which has seven branches throughout the valley, is one of many local banks that has researched the effects Y2K.
“This is a big project for us,” said Bob Nystuen head of Glacier Bank’s Y2K committee. “We’ve been working on it for two years and we’ve established a team to research every component that could possibly be impacted by the Y2K bug. We developed a budget and a priority list of things that need to be done.”
For Glacier Bank, preparing for the year 2000 has not only meant readying themselves, but educating customers and the community as well.
“We’ve done a lot of community outreach work, educating people so they can understand and plan for what needs to be done,” said Nystuen. “Some people are very concerned and some people have very little interest.”
However, one of the biggest questions for banks is what might happen if masses of people tried to withdraw money out of the banks at once.
“We are preparing ourselves for extra withdraws, which means stocking extra currency for that weekend, but we also have to have contingency plans if the ATM machines don’t work.”
Luckily, banks throughout the valley have been preparing for the year 2000 and if disaster does strike, banks shouldn’t have anything to do with it.
“We are right on target,” said Nystuen. ”Our biggest challenge in planning for this has been to make the community aware.”
DISTRICT 5
In the past decade, increased computer resources have largely defined modern education. And District 5 is no exception. In Flathead High School, nearly every classroom includes at least one computer, while other rooms, such as the FHS Writing Center, have 48. District Five, like other local organizations, has researched the effects of Y2K, but doesn’t expect any major problems.
“Our student records program has already been certified (Y2K compatible),” said District Five technology facilitator tech Ryan Overbeek. “The computer that handles the payrolls, accounts and expenses, which is much larger, is not 100 percent certified yet, but will be by 2000.”
Some of that relief can be attributed to the fact that the district’s main computer is backed up on a daily basis, to protect against computation errors. In addition, Macintosh computers, which are primarily used throughout the Kalispell schools, are not affected by the bug.
“This district is about 75 percent Macintosh,” said Overbeek. “Macintoshes and software built for them use a four-digit year code and those will not be affected.”
The remaining computers in the district are new PCs in which problems are unlikely, though Overbeek says there will likely be glitches in some areas.
“Some of the computers used in the business and accounting classes that use Lotus are not Y2K compatible,” said Overbeek. “Anywhere there is a chip, there is the potential to be glitches.”
While a majority of the PCs used by District 5 are not likely to crash, many older PCs that are still frequently used, such as 386s and 486s are likely to encounter problems.
Said Overbeek:
“The first Pentium computers are OK, but anything older than that — basically older than three years — may need to be replaced.”
While it seems most valley businesses have educated and prepared themselves for the approaching millennium, many people are unsure what will happen with the clock strikes midnight on Jan. 1, 2000.
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