The Millennium Bug :: Essays Papers

The Millennium Bug The millennial sun will first rise over human civilization in the independent republic of Kirbati, a group of thirty low lying coral islands in the Pacific Ocean. Kirbati straddles the equator and the International Dateline halfway between Hawaii and Australia. â€Å"For those who live in a world that relies on satellites, air, rail and ground transportation, manufacturing plants, electricity, heat, telephone, or TV, when the calendar clicks ’99 to ’00, we will experience a true millennial shift (Peterson).† As the sun moves westward on January 1, 2000 and the date shifts silently within millions of computerized systems, we will begin to experience our computer dependent world in a new way. At the stroke of midnight, the new millennium heralds the greatest challenge to modern society that we have yet to face as a planetary community. Whether we experience this as chaos or social transformation will be influenced by what we do immediately. What is theY2K (Year 2000) problem? When computer systems were built in the 1960’s and 1970’s computer hardware was too expensive. To reduce costs, programmers looked for ways to reduce data storage requirements. It was common for year to be stored in databases in two digit fields rather than four digits. Why is this a problem now? The systems built during this period were not very user friendly, but the computers were most critical to business operations. Because these systems of the 1960’s and 1970’s were not designed to run in multiple centuries, most will either produce incorrect information or simply fail at the end of the century. It may not sound like much effort to fix these machines, but in fact, it involves a great deal of time and expense. The Gartner Group, a respected information technology researcher, estimates that it will cost as much as $600 billion worldwide. If the problem is not addressed in time, the consequences could be catastrophic. There is currently widespread awareness that Y2K involves more than the failure of an individual’s personal computer, or an incorrect date in a spreadsheet. â€Å"It is now widely understood that Y2K could affect the lives of individuals, but exactly in what manner is unknown (Associated P 1).† Today computers are used to operate most mechanical equipment that affects every aspect of our lives.