Microsoft's Y2K compatibility plans and fixes

Microsoft has finally released some information about Year 2000 compatibility issues and Windows NT, and none too soon. With only a year and a half until you should have all necessary fixes, patches, upgrades and changes in place, you need as much help as you can get.

It turns out that NT 4 can be certified, as long as you've applied the service packs already released, plus a few fixes yet to come. Microsoft has also provided information on a few minor annoyances or problems, readily worked around. Check out the Microsoft NT 4.0 Y2K page for the full details. Even better, Microsoft has committed to making NT 3.51 Y2K compatible. Although testing hasn't yet finished, a full report and whatever patches are necessary have been promised for this summer. We'll let you know when that happens, but you should also check the Win NT 3.51 Y2K page periodically for new information.

Major Microsoft products you might be using that are not Y2K compliant, and can't (or won't) be patched, include Word for DOS 5.0 and MS Access 2.0. You'll need to plan on replacing these if they're part of your enterprise application mix.

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The Y2K Scorecard - A Management Tool for Monitoring Y2K Progress and Risks

The Microsoft Year 2000 Resource Center

The Year 2000 Information Center

Microsoft offers Y2K solutions
Kearns' previous piece on Microsoft's Y2K initiative. Network World, 3/16/98.

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