We're Gonna Wash That Bug Right Outta Our Hair

Sydney Morning Herald

Saturday September 5, 1998

KIRSTY NEEDHAM

FIONA Hunter runs Glintz, a hair salon in Lane Cove, with a three-PC network working behind the scenes to help the business stay ahead. Millennium bug? Here? Sure. The possibility of her system falling over in 2000 saw Hunter call in a consultant.

"I had read about it in the papers," she says. "We are so reliant on computers and point-of-sale."

The salon's network handles everything from accounts to direct marketing (letters being sent to new clients) and tracks the points accumulated in the frequent client club. Every bottle of shampoo sold is tracked, automating the chore of stocktaking. The salon also relies on specialist hairdresser software called Magic for customer records.

"Hairdressers tend to be a bit creative with colour," Hunter says. "We will sometimes have 12 colours on one head and need to enter a little story about it on the computer system."

So what have the bug hunters found? Andrew Crimston of Y2K Management says all three computers at the salon failed the test. The supplier of the Magic software is still testing and doesn't yet know if the package is Y2K compliant. The MYOB accounting package relies on the accuracy of the BIOS (basic input/output system) date in the hardware.

On the upside, Glintz's bank has said it is confident the EFTPOS system the salon uses will be Y2K compliant by the end of the year.

Crimston says Hunter must look at which of her computers is business-critical before deciding what to do about her problem. The Packard-Bell and clone PCs will require either a BIOS upgrade or a test run in safe conditions (that is, after all data on the computer has been backed up) to see if the clocks can be manually reset when Hunter comes to work on January 1, 2000.

SHOW AND TELL:

Glintz has a Packard-Bell desktop and two clones running Windows 95 and Windows 3.1, a Canon colour printer and an HP deskjet printer. A Toshiba laptop is leased, which Hunter likes because of the tax deductions and the fact she can upgrade throughout the term of the lease. MYOB is used for accounting, Magic for customer records, marketing and stock control, plus Microsoft Word and Excel.