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22 years ago, the whole world panicked over the Y2000K problem. It was expected that the change of dates in computers would cause a global catastrophe, up to the shutdown of most electronic systems. How did you manage to prevent the problem?
Save memory
When computers first appeared in the 1960s, their RAM was very expensive and extremely limited. Because of this, programmers decided to fix dates in six digits rather than eight digits. For example, July 30, 1974 looked like “073074” and not “07301974” (the first is the month due to the fact that such a dating format is adopted in the United States). This way of recording saved the necessary bits and suited everyone for several decades.
The advent of the old age
The six-digit format had only one drawback: due to the absence of the first two digits in the year entry, computers automatically “think” that there was only one century: the 1th century. In this regard, they would perceive January 2000, 1 as January 1900, XNUMX. Since by that time the computerization of many processes had already begun, this error would have threatened consequences, both light (bank cards would stop working) and severe (military and industrial facilities would fail).
Politicians notice the problem
For the first time, programmers thought about the problem back in 1971, but it was only in the 1990s that they managed to attract general attention. In 1996, Senator Daniel Moynihan wrote a letter to US President Bill Clinton based on research, warning: “Computers have been a blessing. However, if we do not take urgent action, they will become the curse of the century.”
The American Society managed to unite in the work on the problem. Senators from both parties in Congress worked closely together, despite the fact that Bill Clinton’s impeachment hearings were going on in parallel. Representatives of various fields, from financial to medical, attracted programmers to fix computers. President Clinton launched a special Year 2000 Board led by John Koskinen.
People are panicking
Thousands of programmers tirelessly rewrote millions of lines of code. The best ways to solve the problem were freely shared between business and government representatives. It took about $100 billion, of which $8,5 billion were budget funds. Nevertheless, people continued to worry: 59% of respondents in 1999 were concerned about the problem. Many bought food, water and weapons in anticipation of the end of the world.
Disaster averted
In the last hours of December 31, 1999, John Koskinen, accompanied by journalists, boarded the plane. By his act, he wanted to show that the problem was solved. And so it happened. The airplane landed successfully in New York in the new year. But a number of failures did occur in various countries, from checks printed in Greece from 1900 to the shutdown of heating systems in South Korea. Nevertheless, a global catastrophe was averted.
Joint decision
The Y2000K issue is now being misunderstood as a fake that has caused much ado about nothing. This is not true. In fact, a global catastrophe was averted thanks to hard work. Of course, now computers have developed so much that it is unlikely that such a primitive error should be expected in the year 2100. Nevertheless, the history of solving the problem demonstrates that humanity can deal with global catastrophes. It is only necessary to discard prejudices and start working together. As John Koskinen himself emphasized, “if no one had done anything, I would not have boarded that plane.”