There is an extremely "interesting" feature in September's
"BusinessAge" magazine called "I was a software slave".

In summary, the article says that the UK's second largest bank is in a
fix and only Bill Gates can bail it out. Microsoft Windows NT is at the
heart of a =A3200m project for 2,500 bank branches, 21 of these branches
are conducting trials.

The article continues that behind the scenes things are more like the
Titanic after the iceberg has hit, although most of the bank's staff
are still dancing to the Microsoft tune, despite watching the software
fail. Bill gates has been personally involved in the scheme from the
start, the bank is his biggest corporate customer anywhere, success in
this project will boost prospects elsewhere.

The bank spent a lot of time and resources working with pre-release
versions of NT and has promised that the two-year project will allow
them to outstrip their rivals. Three months ago, a confident bank
agreed to talk about the Windows NT pilot, then in full flow. By last
week, with the project windong down, the bank's agreement to an
interview had evaporated. The official line now read: "We have no
comment to make."

The terrible truth that the chief executive, Bill Gates and the bank's
corporate hierarchy must face very quickly is that Windows NT in its
present form cannot run a 2,500-branch system.

The costs of the project are greatly overrun. If the project is
scrapped customers will recieve sub-standard service will into the next
millennium. If the bank hangs on Microsoft's promises of a better
Windows NT next year, customers still will not see a fully operational
system in every branch until the year 2000. NT is due for a revamp next
year when it will have the Windows 95 user interface, this will require
the 30,000 users of the system to be retrained.

It may seem incredible that the future of branch banking at the UK's
second largest bank rests on Windows NT. The rot set in last year when
there was a coup in the computer department which saw the introduction
of a group of Microsoft zealots. The leader of these zealots, counted
Gates amongst his friends and assured the top brass that Gates was
commited to make the project work.

Windows NT was to form the heart of a revolution, giving tellers and
other branch staff instant information on customers, the bank's
products and the latest financial advice. Not only that, this would all
be presented via the all-dominant interface of the day - Windows.

The leader of the Microsoft zealots has quit, the bank is now wedded to
a poorly supported peice of Microsoft software. Heads are bound to roll
when the bank decides which is the lesser evil - to wait for NT or
scrap the lot and start again.


The article was written by Phllip Inman.