August 26, 1998: The Y2K Problem - Edward Yourdon

Yourdonwe have already passed the point of no return on Y2K: Yourdon says software-engineering metrics specialist Capers Jones has shown that even if at the start of 1998 the U.S. had assigned 80–85 percent of all programmers to Y2K full time, fixes might have finished - but that didn't happen, and the work won't be done in time.

April 1, 1999 fiscal-year rollover as Y2K dress rehearsalYourdon points to April 1, 1999 - the start of the financial year for Japan, Canada and New York State - as the first 'objective reality' test of Y2K remediation, with New York State already on track to finish only half its mission-critical systems.

The Y2K iron trianglepower, phones, banks: Yourdon defines the 'iron triangle' of Y2K risk - utilities, telecommunications and banking - and tells listeners that if they wake up on New Year's morning to dark lights, dead phones and closed banks, everything else is secondary.

All 108 U.S. nuclear plants non-compliant; embedded systems riskYourdon tells Bell that none of the roughly 7,300 U.S. utility companies - including all 108 nuclear power plants - are Y2K compliant, and that each plant has 10,000–20,000 embedded systems that the NRC has only treated as advisory rather than required.

Yourdon explains his move from New York to Taos as Y2K hedgeYourdon confirms that Y2K was a partial reason he and his wife moved up their plan to leave New York City for Taos, New Mexico, deciding he wanted to be somewhere he could stay indefinitely if needed because cities like New York, Boston or Chicago could 'get pretty bad.'