Oracle offers free Y2K upgrade

Oracle said today that it is offering a Year 2000 upgrade free of charge to customers using unsupported and obsolete versions of its databases and tools.

Oracle Upgrade2000 allows customers to replace Oracle 7.3.3 or earlier unsupported versions with currently supported, fully Y2K compliant software, including Oracle 8i, at no cost, the company said.

The Oracle upgrade 2000 program will be available until April 30, 1999. Oracle said it is also offering, for a fee, a full range of support services to assist in the migration process.

The upgrade program enables customers to avoid serious problems, while enabling Oracle to maintain potentially thousands of customers.

The Y2K bug comes from antiquated hardware and software formats that denote years in two-digit formats, such as "98" for 1998 and "99" for 1999. The glitch will occur in 2000, when computers are either fooled into thinking the year is 1900 or interpret the 2000 as a meaningless "00." The glitch could throw out of whack everything from bank systems to building security procedures, some experts warn.

Oracle said customers can obtain the upgrade by calling 800/833-3536.