By the time you read this, the Christmas season will all be over, and we will be heading into a brand-new year, 2023. That’s 23 years since the world teetered on the brink of a potential disaster as computer programmers grabbled with the Y2KBug, the point at which the world slipped over to the 21st century, and the year 2000 ticked over from 1999.
It was thought and hyped up by the media that computer systems would experience huge malfunctions switching over to the year 2000. Because when complicated computer programs were being written during the 1960s through the 1980s, computer engineers used a two-digit code for the year. The "19" was left out. Instead of a date reading 1970, it read 70. Engineers shortened the date because data storage in computers was costly and took up a lot of space.
As the year 2000 approached, computer programmers realized that computers might not interpret 00 as 2000, but as 1900. Activities that were programmed on a daily or yearly basis would be damaged or flawed. As December 31, 1999, turned into January 1, 2000, computers might interpret December 31, 1999, turning into January 1, 1900.
The ramifications were huge! Banks, which calculate interest rates daily, faced real problems. Instead of calculating the rate of interest for one day, the computer would calculate a rate of interest for minus almost 100 years! Airlines were also potentially at risk, as computers with records of all scheduled flights would be threatened after all, there were very few airline flights in 1900.
In the end, there was very little disruption and despite the world spending collective in the region of $500 billion, countries that hadn’t spent as much as more affluent nations were nearly equally unbothered by any glitches. The overwhelming feeling was that the money spent was an overaction and attempts to probe that fact gained little traction.
The interesting thing though about how Y2K was dealt with, is that there was collaboration in advance to AVOID a potential disaster. Planning began a decade earlier, from telecommunications companies, transport providers right up to the US and Russian govts defense forces. Reports noted that ‘governments across the world worked together in a cohesive and organized fashion never seen before.’
Funny, Governments seem to be able to work together and with the business sector for the betterment of their people when it suits them. For whatever reason, now doesn’t seem to be one of them. Makes you wonder doesn’t it?
Happy New Year Everyone!