Several Weyburn businesses are ready or are being prepared to meet the calendar change-over to the year 2000, according to an informal survey by the Weyburn Review.

Preparations in all private and public sectors have been underway to ensure computer equipment, or equipment with an embedded computer chip, with any date-sensitive data can handle the year change. In older two-digit systems, the change from 99 to 00 meant the machines would be unable to distinguish between the year 1900 or 2000, which could lead to a system malfunction or crash of computer-operated systems; this is widely known as the Millennium Bug or by the abbreviation for the year 2000, Y2K.

Some establishments were ready some time ago, making sure their systems were ready early on this year, such as the Pharmasave drugstore downtown.

"We're ready, bring it on," said manager Jack Jones. "Everything that's computerized was looked at, and we've been ready since April."

With the need to upgrade software to be compliant for the year 2000, the company took the opportunity to fully upgrade their computer systems, including the speed and capacity of their computers, he added.

At Sidesteps and McDonald Shoes, owner-manager Ted Mahoney said their systems have been checked out and are ready for the new year.

"Everything is looked after. We didn't have to do any major changes, as our software was year 2000 compliant," he said, with his point-of-sale equipment and office computer being the main items he looked after.

Marinos Optical is also ready for the calendar change, said owner-manager Grant Marinos. He noted he has a computer in his office that isn't on-line, and is Y2K compliant.

His main concern lies with his suppliers, as he deals with 17 of them, most based in Eastern Canada. Many of these companies have assured him they are ready and won't be affected in the new year.

Ken Petrescue, owner-manager of Superior Office Products, said his tills use a simple two-digit year and should have no problem working into the new year. The phone system was tested by SaskTel and they have been assured there will be no problem with that service.

Commenting on the concerns people have for Y2K, Petrescue said, "I think part of it is these are major dates in the scheme of humanity, and this is one event people have kind of grasped onto."

Cable Weyburn is in the midst of their Y2K preparations, said manager Brent Allin.

"Cable Weyburn is very concerned about Y2K issues. We've been working on this for some time now, and the company has a committee that people working on a number of Y2K issues. We're contacting the manufacturer of every piece of equipment we have, asking them to assure us that their equipment will be Y2K-compatible," said Allin.

In addition to this process, the company is also bench-testing their equipment to ensure there will be no problems when the date changes over.

Weyburn Video and Computer Service is "ready to roll" into the year 2000, said co-owner Chad Baudria, noting they only had to update the software used for video rentals.

"There are still some people out there that aren't year 2000 compatible. There'll be people right up to the last minute waiting to fix things," he said, adding their business has been prepared to meet the new year for quite some time now.

Gone Hollywood's owner Myron Bruder said their preparation is complete as well, with their till and computer all in one system. The computer was upgraded, and the company which supplies the software for video rentals are ensuring upgraded versions of their program are supplied to the store to keep them up to date.

At True Colors, co-owner and manager Pat Johnston said their photography business is all prepared. Their main focus of concern was with some of their lab equipment, and everything was made ready for Y2K several months ago.

The story is similar at Charnell Studio, where owner-manager Nick Coroluick said they checked out their computerized equipment and ensured everything is Y2K-compliant.

"We're looking forward to a very excellent turn of the century. All the programs are fine, and I have a lot of faith that our suppliers and services like SaskTel and SaskPower will be OK," he said, adding they only have one piece of equipment, one that allows people to see an instant preview of their portrait, that needs checking out.