Fixing Y2k

Whether Mainers think Y2k is the end of the world or a simple computer glitch, most people can agree that it would be handy to know how to fix it — or if they even need to. Seminars around Maine this week, sponsored by Sen. Olympia Snowe, could keep computer users booted up beyond 1999.

Y2k, which stands for Year 2000, is a problem for computers that use but two digits to denote a year. The big question that everyone from airline pilots to zoologists have is what happens when their computers cannot distinguish between 1901 and 2001. Sen. Snowe, with the help of the Small Business Administration and the Department of Commerce, set up five seminars in Maine to help people in small businesses address the potential problem.

Locally, the seminars, each of which last 2 1/2 hours, are scheduled for 2:30 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 5, at Husson College in Bangor, and 1:30 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 6, at Northern Maine Technical College in Presque Isle. Their purpose is to offer practical advice about the extent of the problem and what businesses or individuals can do about it.

As important is a loan program that Sens. Snowe and Christopher Bond of Missouri have introduced to help small businesses identify Y2k problems, figure out the changes they need to make and repair or purchase computer equipment. The loans are limited to $50,000 or less. Used effectively, they will allow small businesses to make investments in upgraded equipment that they may not have budgeted.

Y2k may turn out to be one of those asteroid-on-the-way-to-earth deals, where the people who do best are those who do least. The value of the seminar and, potentially, the loan program is that they allow Mainers to decide and act on the best information available. Good information should remove the hype that comes with uncertainty.

The seminars and the loan program could turn what could be a major breakdown into a small inconvience on the way to the next millennium.