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Comment: |
I let all reasonable views on this site. This man says that he used to be an IRS programmer in Assembler (ALC), a difficult mainframe language. I think he is telling the truth. He says that he has not been involved in y2k work, but he thinks the IRS will have no big problem. I offer this as an opposing view to just about everything I have heard about Assembler programming.
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Approximately one-third of the IRS code is ALC. . . . Most of the software, and virtually all of the ALC, is developed, modified, and maintained in Washington, DC. . . . Since all the IRS software is maintained, if not modified, and tested every year, I believe Y2K for the IRS will not be much more business than usual. Congress could help, if necessary, by freezing all changes to the tax code until the largest mountain of software in the world is sufficiently Y2K compliant for a few years at least. With its modernization effort suspended and the RIF cancelled, the IRS should have ample personnel and time to deal with Y2K.
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In response to this information, I received a reply from Cory Hamasaki, a y2k mainframe programmer:
His information conflicts with the word on the street in Washington, DC. I know a guy who is one of the top assembler programmers in the world. He worked at the IRS as a contractor last year and says that they have big problems. I specifically asked him about Y2K and IRS and he just laughed. He says that they don't stand a chance.
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