Garrett McCord

                           Mr. Haskell

                          World History

                                 Pd.2

Garrett M. McCord

September 14, 1999

Mr. Haskell

World History

The Y2K Diaster?

It is said that on midnight of December 31, 1999 a huge problem will sweep the nation disabling all the computers in the world. Havok will run loose, missiles will fly on their own, etc., etc. This is really a great exaggeration, but still could be a huge problem. It called the Y2K problem (for Year 2000). It is a computer malfunction caused by unwise planning and programming. The Y2k problem could be a devastation to the United States and across the world and will cause many problems if it is not solved soon.

The background of this problem is short but a little complicated. When computers were first being used for real uses and prosperity for mankind, they only had the ability to play simple games and write documents. No spelling or grammar checks, bold or italic print, nothing. It did however keep time and dates for you. Now back when they were first developing computers for home use they overlooked the problem of the date on the years 2000. They completely missed it and those few who did considered it ignored it. It was a waste of money to correct them. It wasn’t till 37 years later when they realized the problem. What is the problem? The problem is, on the year 2000, the computers will set themselves back to the year 1900 rather than advancing to the year 2000. "How is this a problem?", some say. An example of this problem is the medical computer at your hospital said you had to get a dosage of medicine on a certain date on March 8, 2001, the computer thinks that it’s the year is 1901 so you don’t get the medicine for 1000 years. Quite a wait. Get it now? Now apply this to the stock market, flight plans, banks, your home computer, trade, etc. At the moment the current status is bad. People are panicking, governments are freaking out, and so on. The governments’ science department have been working on the problem. They do have a solution special programs they have developed to correct the computers, however it’s very expensive. Programming solutions may cost up to $500 billion dollars (Dunn, 1). Litigation has already begun in California. An action filed against Nortan Antivirus was said that version 4.0 will be somewhat defective (Chamberlin, 2). The state is considering AB 1710, a bill that will limit the litigation. Many companies and the government are buying resources to help stop a crash in their systems. The U.N. will meet soon, if not already, on what to do and what we can expect from each particpating country. It won’t affect the U.S. as much as third and second world countries. It will however, "screw around" with their economy and trade, affecting the U.S. and other countries in a domino effect (Yardini, 5).

The reason this problem occurred, as recently stated, it just wasn’t planned for or seen (although ignorance is no excuse). The idea is this situation will disrupt systems, some examples will be military systems, banks, utilities, etc. Most computers will knock out use of about 5% of the computers’ capabilities, leaving them working at 95%. Of course no one wants 95% working computer. Others will go out about even more, about 50% (Maney, 3). There are no current flare-ups there right now. Computers at the moment are OK.

Right now most people think it will be nothing except a few computer glitches here or there. People on the other hand are reacting rather rashley. Some think that we will get screwed by corporations and companies for some time. There are those few people who go overboard. Some senators say that we should prepare for armmegeddon, repent sinners, get ready! Some people even have home bomb shelters stocked with food, water, money, and so forth. While in some ways they are right, it is probably smart to have some extra food, water, money and other necessities just in case the banks or supermarkets get screwed up. Although you probably don’t need walls stronger than the San Onofre Nuclear Plant. There have been a few previous attempts to solve this problem, most costing billions of tax dollars. The only thing we can do is hope that some affordable software comes out soon. Though if your computer has been recently bought you probably don’t have to worry, but just in case call the company and ask.

There are a couple of myths going around as well. One being, "There’s plenty of time", this isn’t true, we really don’t have a solution and we need one in a couple months. Another being, "With so many new computers we can’t be that vulnerable". While this is mostly true it lulls you into a false sense of security, while most new ones are okay, not all are. "With luck it won’t affect me", ten to one it will in one way or another, maybe not your computer but it will in some way, guaranteed. Such as it misplacing your medical records possibly, or so delaying checks (Red Cross, 3).

As you have read, we are in quite the bind. Too many problems, no true solution in sight, or at least one in time. People have become too dependent on computers, which is part of the problem. I think a reasonable prediction of the outcome is this. On a problem scale of one to ten, I would give it a five. I think that we will have a real problem on our hands. It will mess up our businesses and government a little and make a general mess of things. I doubt however, planes will fall from the sky and the streets will be ravaged by carnage. If anything I think that it will affect other countries and in the process screw up our economy as well. I, personally, can’t really give a reasonable solution to this. I think that if the software comes out get it, tell the companies that make it to move faster, and stock up a little just in case. And, if you computer is old save your work to disk as a precaution.

The Y2K problem could be a devastation to the U.S. and other countries and will cause many problems if it is not solved soon. Of course we can’t and haven’t come up with a solution just like that. On the night of December 31, 1999, the start of the millennium, at midnight things will screw up and crash. Just remember to be prepared and braced for this computer epidemic.

                         Garrett McCord

                           Mr. Haskell

                          World History

                                 Pd.2

Garrett M. McCord

September 14, 1999

Mr. Haskell

World History

The Y2K Diaster?

It is said that on midnight of December 31, 1999 a huge problem will sweep the nation disabling all the computers in the world. Havok will run loose, missiles will fly on their own, etc., etc. This is really a great exaggeration, but still could be a huge problem. It called the Y2K problem (for Year 2000). It is a computer malfunction caused by unwise planning and programming. The Y2k problem could be a devastation to the United States and across the world and will cause many problems if it is not solved soon.

The background of this problem is short but a little complicated. When computers were first being used for real uses and prosperity for mankind, they only had the ability to play simple games and write documents. No spelling or grammar checks, bold or italic print, nothing. It did however keep time and dates for you. Now back when they were first developing computers for home use they overlooked the problem of the date on the years 2000. They completely missed it and those few who did considered it ignored it. It was a waste of money to correct them. It wasn’t till 37 years later when they realized the problem. What is the problem? The problem is, on the year 2000, the computers will set themselves back to the year 1900 rather than advancing to the year 2000. "How is this a problem?", some say. An example of this problem is the medical computer at your hospital said you had to get a dosage of medicine on a certain date on March 8, 2001, the computer thinks that it’s the year is 1901 so you don’t get the medicine for 1000 years. Quite a wait. Get it now? Now apply this to the stock market, flight plans, banks, your home computer, trade, etc. At the moment the current status is bad. People are panicking, governments are freaking out, and so on. The governments’ science department have been working on the problem. They do have a solution special programs they have developed to correct the computers, however it’s very expensive. Programming solutions may cost up to $500 billion dollars (Dunn, 1). Litigation has already begun in California. An action filed against Nortan Antivirus was said that version 4.0 will be somewhat defective (Chamberlin, 2). The state is considering AB 1710, a bill that will limit the litigation. Many companies and the government are buying resources to help stop a crash in their systems. The U.N. will meet soon, if not already, on what to do and what we can expect from each particpating country. It won’t affect the U.S. as much as third and second world countries. It will however, "screw around" with their economy and trade, affecting the U.S. and other countries in a domino effect (Yardini, 5).

The reason this problem occurred, as recently stated, it just wasn’t planned for or seen (although ignorance is no excuse). The idea is this situation will disrupt systems, some examples will be military systems, banks, utilities, etc. Most computers will knock out use of about 5% of the computers’ capabilities, leaving them working at 95%. Of course no one wants 95% working computer. Others will go out about even more, about 50% (Maney, 3). There are no current flare-ups there right now. Computers at the moment are OK.

Right now most people think it will be nothing except a few computer glitches here or there. People on the other hand are reacting rather rashley. Some think that we will get screwed by corporations and companies for some time. There are those few people who go overboard. Some senators say that we should prepare for armmegeddon, repent sinners, get ready! Some people even have home bomb shelters stocked with food, water, money, and so forth. While in some ways they are right, it is probably smart to have some extra food, water, money and other necessities just in case the banks or supermarkets get screwed up. Although you probably don’t need walls stronger than the San Onofre Nuclear Plant. There have been a few previous attempts to solve this problem, most costing billions of tax dollars. The only thing we can do is hope that some affordable software comes out soon. Though if your computer has been recently bought you probably don’t have to worry, but just in case call the company and ask.

There are a couple of myths going around as well. One being, "There’s plenty of time", this isn’t true, we really don’t have a solution and we need one in a couple months. Another being, "With so many new computers we can’t be that vulnerable". While this is mostly true it lulls you into a false sense of security, while most new ones are okay, not all are. "With luck it won’t affect me", ten to one it will in one way or another, maybe not your computer but it will in some way, guaranteed. Such as it misplacing your medical records possibly, or so delaying checks (Red Cross, 3).

As you have read, we are in quite the bind. Too many problems, no true solution in sight, or at least one in time. People have become too dependent on computers, which is part of the problem. I think a reasonable prediction of the outcome is this. On a problem scale of one to ten, I would give it a five. I think that we will have a real problem on our hands. It will mess up our businesses and government a little and make a general mess of things. I doubt however, planes will fall from the sky and the streets will be ravaged by carnage. If anything I think that it will affect other countries and in the process screw up our economy as well. I, personally, can’t really give a reasonable solution to this. I think that if the software comes out get it, tell the companies that make it to move faster, and stock up a little just in case. And, if you computer is old save your work to disk as a precaution.

The Y2K problem could be a devastation to the U.S. and other countries and will cause many problems if it is not solved soon. Of course we can’t and haven’t come up with a solution just like that. On the night of December 31, 1999, the start of the millennium, at midnight things will screw up and crash. Just remember to be prepared and braced for this computer epidemic.