Editorial - Millenium Musings: Y2K and quality

Written on the second day of the year 2000, it proved impossible to ignore some virtual links! DID we all enjoy the festivities? Drink too much champaign? Overdo the fireworks? Probably. My personal highs and lows? Well,

• the most enjoyable few minutes of the whole few days and a "high" in both senses of the word were had when standing at the top of Snowden in feet of snow, thick mist and a howling gale, clutching a paper cup of champaign on the last day of 1999;
• the best news was the fact that the BUG seems not to have struck (at least not yet) and that the digital world may last a little longer; and
• the most irritating thing has been the seemingly endless bank holidays and the need to close some shops and universities for nearly 2 weeks.

And so to quality. Well of course the whole Y2K-bug fiasco should have brought a few thoughts of quality to our minds. Notably the lack of quality in software which was not adequately de-bugged and future-proofed. I do not know - and I think that I do not want to know - how much the bug must have cost the UK, or indeed the world. So can we learn a lesson from this at all? Hopefully! We might realise the importance of maintaining a high level of quality in our databases and resources because if we fail to do so, the consequences may be hugely expensive if not catestriphic.

Party quiz question

Who first "discovered" and alerted the world to the millenium bug?

A shorter issue this time but there is important news in the Resource quality, design and evaluation section and an interesting main article in this issue by Ann Chapman of UKOLN. She describes the performance measurement and quality assessment studies that have been carried out at UKOLN over the last few years.

See you in June!

Chris Armstrong (Editor)

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