Posted on 01/02/2020 6:50:51 AM PST by C19fan
Twenty years ago, we were all pretty sure the world was going to end on January 1, 2000or, if not the world, then at least civilization.
It had something to do with how most computer programs used the last two digits to represent a four-digit year, and when the clock rolled over at the end of 1999, every computer would think it was 1900. When that happened, ATMs would stop working, the electrical grid would shut down, planes would fall out of the skies, and newborn babies would get hundred-year-old birth certificates.
(Excerpt) Read more at popularmechanics.com ...
Shucks, I can navigate with a map and compass and make engineering drawings with a t-square and triangles. I find it a bit scary that people of today couldn't run a business for a few days with just candles and pencils.
I also find it outrageous to discover that anyone could think sort errors would cause anything other than inconvenience. I have yet to find anyone who can cite a single case of that old Y2K problem being dangerous.
I read in the months following y2k that some military missile monitoring system(s) went down for 3 or 4 days after 1/1/2000 turned. Nothing happened but nothing would have been detected either for those days in the dark.
I have been doing embedded software since 1967; and, I have never had issues with dates. Save navigation, there is almost nothing that would be critically affected by the date rollover.
That reminds me of one of the most clever marketing campaigns of the era: YKK zippers.
They were ubiquitous, non-descript, yet high-quality, found just about anywhere, didn’t really have a rival in the marketplace, and the company had previously kept a low profile. But in ‘98 or ‘99 or thereabouts, they started a really subtle marketing campaign:
“Are your jeans Y2K compliant? YKK zippers.”
It was glorious. Wish I had thought of it... I’d be comfortably retired by now... :{D>
Before the year 2000 some food stuffs were being destroyed because the systems thought they were old and out of date. Those are the type errors that would have happened even more. Not planes falling from the skies and power grids turning off (maybe messed up their billing). There were real issues that were addressed by companies. Not end of the world stuff like the click bait media sites tried to portray or the idiot reporters on tv repeated.
Procurement, banking and billing where dates are critical. This is also why systems like SAP took off. Cheaper to buy a package than rewrite the 20 year old crap they had.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.