The Year 2000 bug, also known as the Y2K or Millenium bug, was the anticipated inability of many computer programs and embedded devices to handle year-dates later than Dec. 31, 1999. Many such programs and devices were constructed to interpret dates as running between 1900 and 1999, inclusive, and so lacked any way to represent years after 1999. Computer experts forewarned that when January 1, 2000 arrived, computers that were not "Y2K-compliant" would read the year 2000 as the year 1900. This was deemed likely to adversely affect huge amounts of software, particularly accounting and database systems, thus generating expensive errors or even shutting down systems. Since banks, power grids, nuclear power plants, water-treatment systems, and other industries were almost entirely computerized by 1999, it was feared that the Y2K bug might even trigger widespread societal breakdown.
No one knew exactly how serious or widespread the Y2K bug would be. Predictions ranged from "no big deal" to worldwide crisis. The general consensus was that the worst problems would occur outside the United States, and would most adversely affect communications, financial systems, air transportation, and oil supplies. Within the United States, the least-prepared sectors were small businesses, state and local governments, and the health-care industry.
In the 1950s, mainframe computers (i.e., those shared by multiple users via terminal connections) were bulky, slow, and expensive to operate. Computer memory was especially expensive: an amount of memory that in 1999 would cost less than $10 then cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. For this reason, programmers shaved down memory requirements by recording only the last two digits of the year: that is, 1959 was saved as 59. This became a common required practice in software development.
In the 1970s Robert Bemer, a programmer for IBM, was one of the first to warn about the Y2K problem. Few listened. When the Y2K bug was at last perceived widely as a problem, many experts agreed that it had been greatly exacerbated by the unwillingness of organizations to identify a technical problem that had no short-term impact on financial reports prior to 1999. Once the use of the two-digit standard became widespread, the change to a four-digit code became surprisingly difficult and expensive. Organizations had to evaluate their computer systems, identify those threatened by the Y2K bug, and either repair them (at high cost) or replace them (at higher cost).
Computers were not the only machines that contained two-digit year dates. Embedded devices, such as sensors inside machines, were one of the most difficult aspects of the Y2K bug because these were difficult to locate and fix, yet controlled key products and services such as utilities, telecommunications, banking, and sewage.
Personal computers were also at risk for Y2K problems. The Basic Input/Output System (BIOS), critical boot-up software in all personal computers, contained information the machine needed each time it was turned on. When the year changed to 2000, many personal computers that were not Y2K-compliant read the BIOS clock as 1900 or defaulted to the operating system (OS) start date, such as 1980 for the Windows OS.
Other calendar dates besides January 1, 2000 were also seen as potential Y2K problems. April 1, 1999 (99th day of the 99th year) and September 9, 1999 (9/9/99) were listed as potential problems because many programmers used 9999 or 9/9/99 to represent a file's termination date or an unknown date. February 29, 2000 was seen as a potential problem because year 2000 was a leap year; it was thought that some computers might fail to interpret the year as having 366 days rather than 365. These problems, however, did not materialize.
Because not all companies expected to be fully Y2K-compliant by January 1, 2000, and since disruptions might occur, executives drew up contingency plans. The United States Social Security Administration estimated that it would need to review about 50 million lines of code to correct its system's problems, while the United States Treasury Department installed emergency generators. The American Red Cross advised citizens to stockpile food, water, and money. A common estimate predicted that one trillion dollars in total worldwide damages could result from the Y2K problem. In the US, a law was even enacted to encourage companies to share Y2K-compliance information about their products with customers and other companies.
A small economic boom occurred in the late 1990s as companies spent many billions of dollars to "repair" or "upgrade" computers that had no real defect or shortcoming other than possible vulnerability to the Y2K bug. Businesses and individuals stockpiled goods, fearing computer glitches would halt everyday services. Some analysts predicted an economic slowdown in early 2000 caused by Y2K-related problems. In reality, only minimal disruptions and minor problems were experienced on and after January 1, 2000.
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