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  3. With 500 days left until the year 2000, experts said last week, that it may already be too late for many companies to defuse the

With 500 days left until the year 2000, experts said last week, that it may already be too late for many companies to defuse the

admin2010-06-18  41
问题     With 500 days left until the year 2000, experts said last week, that it may already be too late for many companies to defuse the millennium computer time bomb.
    According to the Gartner Group, a US high-technology consultant agency, nearly a quarter of all worldwide companies have not yet started work on plans to solve the year 2000 programs problems.
    This means most of these organizations will effectively be unable to fix their systems in time.
    The Gartner Group, which said last year that the millennium bomb rehabilitation would cost between US $300 billion and US $600 billion worldwide, also said in the report published this month that only 50 percent of companies that had projects to eliminate the bug planned to test their corrected systems.
Dangerous policy
    Experts said this was a dangerous policy, because correcting computer programs often introduced new flaws.. Testing was essential.
    The millennium computer bomb is a legacy from shortcuts by software writers, who in the name of economy expressed years with just the final two digits rather than four.
    When clocks tick past midnight on December 31, 1999, many unrectified computers and chips will interpret the double zero as 1900.
    This will turn many computer programs to mush, Unchecked, many public utilities, assembly lines, bank teller machines, traffic lights and lifts/nay shut down.
    Some experts say the problem has been grossly exaggerated by software companies seeking to scare customers into buying the latest, bug-free products.
    But Graham Titterington, consultant at London Consultancy Ovum, does not share this optimistic view.
    The situation is pretty critical. Most companies are doing something, but are they doing enough? He said in an interview.
    Titterington also said that for the vast majority of businesses there was no external check on the effectiveness of their remedial work.
Running out of time
    Mitul Mehta, senior European research manager at Frost & Sullivan in London, said time was running out for many companies.
    "Companies now could just have to run the risk of crashing and be fixed later,” Mehta said.
    "Some crucial areas apart from computers are not getting enough attention. I don’t think networking companies have their act together — meaning manufacturers of routes, switches and network equipment like Bay and Cisco,. these kinds of companies," Mehta said.
     He said. "Anybody looking at their systems now is probably too late anyway."
Critical situation
     In its report, Gartner Group millennium research director, Lou Marcoccio, said that of the 15,000 companies and government agencies surveyed 23 percent, had not started millennium bomb projects. Of these, 86 per cent were small companies which would not have a chance to correct their systems unless they began immediately, Marcoccio said.
     The Gartner report said most Western European companies and the United States had made good progress. Germany was a notable laggard.
     "Eastern Europe, Russia, India, Pakistan, Southern Asia, Japan, most of South America, most of the Middle East and Central Africa all lag behind the United States by more than 12 months. Most of Western Europe is six months behind the United States, except for Germany which is 12 months behind, and France, which is eight to 10 months behind. The US Government has the lead on all other national governments by an even wider margin than the companies in those countries. Most government agencies are significantly behind the United States," the report said.
Which of the following countries lags behind the United States by the largest margin?
选项 A、France
B、Britain
C、Germany
D、Japan
答案D
解析
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