Hype and virii
more millennium fever
11 July, 1999 by IT Reviews Staff
1) The combination of Word, Outlook and the Internet makes a tempting and easy target for virus writers.
2) Many anti-virus products, while great for cleaning up the mess, are useless at preventing data loss.
But the combined effects of these pieces of code are negligible compared to the destructive power of hype. For example, earlier this year, when it was first widely publicised that a total eclipse of the sun would occur over Cornwall in August, the county went wild. Hotel booking prices shot up for 'eclipse weekend' as did the prices for guest houses, B&Bs and even campsites. There were predictions of major traffic congestion, public disorder and a general food shortage in the county. Perhaps, speculated some newspapers, the army would have to be sent in. We're now a month away from the event and things are looking rather different. Bookings are low and most people, if asked what they plan to do for the eclipse, would not have 'visit Cornwall' as their top priority, because the place will be over-crowded and over-priced. There's been too much hype.
As another example, I might be more inclined to support the idea of genetically modified food, were it not for the fact that the government is apparently so keen to push the idea. Why do they care, I wonder? I doubt they have my best interests at heart, particularly as the anti-GM lobby has made so much noise in the press about the horrendous potential consequences of the stuff. There's too much hype, this time on both sides, for an objective decision to be made. So I'll play it safe and avoid 'Frankenstein food' which, as a former Pot Noodle fan, is a bit of a shame.
And so to computers. A few weeks ago, the UK government distributed hundreds of thousands of leaflets via the Sunday supplements and the Post Office (you can probably still get one - ask at the counter). This blue and yellow leaflet, entitled "The Millennium Bug, Facts not fiction" is, well, you can probably work out what it is. The leaflet covers domestic appliances, home computers, shops and service companies, insurance and most other aspects of life that involve computers or electronic equipment. Aside from a couple of minor technical inaccuracies, the leaflet is sensibly written and contains reasonably good advice. But it's a double-edged sword. There has been so much hype about the 'Millennium Bug' in the tabloid press, and occasionally in the broadsheets too, that many people believe that whatever we do there will be major problems in six months' time. The fact that the government has had to produce such a leaflet is, in the minds of these people, merely proof that the problem exists, isn't it?
This leaves us in a curious position. If, as the leaflet proclaims, most Year 2000 projects are on target for completion before the end of December, then technically we should have no problems (see Millennium Buggery for comments on this). But unless the vast majority of people are convinced that all is well, there will be serious problems anyway. The effect on the economy of people stock-piling food and withdrawing all their savings for ten days over the New Year period would probably not be a pretty one.
If, as the government and major corporations are telling us, the problem of the 'Millennium Bug' is well on its way to being fixed, then the best way to combat all the negative hype is to provide concrete guarantees. Insurance companies should stop including millennium get-out clauses in their contracts, and banks should issue legally-binding statements stating that customers won't lose their savings due to a computer glitch. Only then will people start to ignore the hype and choose, as the government would like, fact instead of fiction.
