Oracle and a Y2K problem

We are running Oracle 7.3.4 on a Windows NT 4.0 server, with 4.0, 3.51, and Windows 95 clients.

We install the client version of Oracle on every user's computer. By default, an Oracle registry variable called NLS_LANG is created with a value of: AMERICAN_AMERICA.WE8ISO8859P1 With this setting, the date format is this: dd-mon-yy and 01-JAN-00 == January 1, 1900.

Oracle does allow a variable called NLS_DATE_FORMAT to be set on the server to change the date format to 4 digit years. Unfortunately, the NLS_LANG setting on each user's computer overrides any setting on the server. So, the only way to fix this problem, is to log into each computer's registry remotely (we have about 150 users), and delete the NLS_LANG variable. This is what an Oracle Technical Support person told me.

Is anyone else experiencing this problem? Are there any other solutions?

Also, is there any way I can install Oracle client on a network, and have the users access it this way rather than have it installed on each computer.

Thanks for any help.

Gary

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Gary M. Gettier                                           openmind_at_erols.com