Y2K BUG

[Windows User]

What was exactly the Y2K bug?

[Guest]

From my understanding, in some applications/electronics, years ended in '## or just ##, so like '96 or 97 denoting 1996 or 1997 respectively. People thought that because of 2000, it will end in 00 and that computers won't be able to interpret that which would lead to disasters.

 

Edit: here's a vid that may help.

 

[straight_stewie]

This is likely to be schoolwork. Please do your own schoolwork.

[NineEyeRon]

One of the most interesting points, worth reading up on is the amount spent tackling it.

 

Was that amount worth it? Did we beat it because we spent the money and time OR was it not a huge issue in the first place and was the money wasted?

[Morrie Sells Wigs]

3 hours ago, Windows User said:

What was exactly the Y2K bug?

It was a right kerfuffle.

 

Lewdicrous has explained it, in essence.

 

People thought the whole system would reset/reboot/crash/wipe everything...you name it, the media said it was going to happen.

 

The media declared an emergency, it was going to be a cyber apocalypse, armageddon, the end of life as we knew it, the entire financial system in ruins, chaos, with mass civil unrest, and a pinch of Mayan prophecy mixed in there somewhere to add flavour, if I recall, and it got some people genuinely concerned. 

 

It was none of those things.

 

I'm sure someone, somewhere, made an awful lot of money out of it...that's usually how it works, isn't it?

 

Anyway, nothing of note happened, the system ticked over at midnight 2000 without issue, and everything was fine.

[spartaman64]

3 hours ago, straight_stewie said:

This is likely to be schoolwork. Please do your own schoolwork.

i mean its not like hes going to be able to copy and paste our responses and directly submit them

[DavidKalinowski]

42 minutes ago, Maury Sells Wigs said:

It was a right kerfuffle.

 

Lewdicrous has explained it, in essence.

 

People thought the whole system would reset/reboot/crash/wipe everything...you name it, the media said it was going to happen.

 

The media declared an emergency, it was going to be a cyber apocalypse, armageddon, the end of life as we knew it, the entire financial system in ruins, chaos, with mass civil unrest, and a pinch of Mayan prophecy mixed in there somewhere to add flavour, if I recall, and it got some people genuinely concerned. 

 

 

I would like to add, "Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together, mass hysteria." -Bill Murry as Peter Venkman;from Ghostbusters. Writen by

Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis

[Morrie Sells Wigs]

57 minutes ago, DavidKalinowski said:

I would like to add, "Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together, mass hysteria." -Bill Murry as Peter Venkman;from Ghostbusters. Writen by

Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis

Nice...

[Quinnell]

1 hour ago, Maury Sells Wigs said:

 

People thought the whole system would reset/reboot/crash/wipe everything...you name it,  the media said it was going to happen. 

 

The media declared an emergency, it was going to be a cyber apocalypse, armageddon, the end of life as we knew it, the entire financial system in ruins, chaos, with mass civil unrest, and a pinch of Mayan prophecy mixed in there somewhere to add flavour, if I recall, and it got some people genuinely concerned. 

 

 

Typical news media.  Always over sensationalizing and fear mongering for money.  Freedom of press is great but for-profit media really does suck sometimes.

[Morrie Sells Wigs]

7 minutes ago, Quinnell said:

Typical news media.  Always over sensationalizing and fear mongering for money.  Freedom of press is great but for-profit media really does suck sometimes.

Yep.

 

Unfortunately, the more hysteria they create, and the more they do so with the appearance of authority and expertise, the more people will trust them and find them indispensable. 

 

It is changing, however, as people under 30 are far less likely to watch tv much at all, and mainstream media definitely isn't their primary source of information. 

 

The older generation, however, particularly the over 60s, still trust and revere these big media corporations.

 

In their eyes, the B.B.C, CNN, or whichever is the big state broadcaster in their country, would never lie to them.

 

 

[Heliian]

Well, it was a bug that could have had dire consequences for the burgeoning industrial application of technology. 

 

The dates were only made to cycle 19xx, once it rolled over to 00 again, if unchecked, automated systems could have reset or frozen.  Not a problem with your Pentium really but more so with banking, power delivery and any automated system that needs to stay running 24/7. The fixes were fairly straightforward but there was a lot of hype.  Made for a great new years party though!