Year 2000

Personally, I think the Y2K issue is greatly exaggerated. If you have a digital micro, you may have to set an incorrect date to make it work. If you have an old PC which you cannot upgrade or you use old software, you may get incorrect dates and your spreadsheet may not work. All of this is easily dealt with through upgrades or new purchases, and the only effect if no upgrade is done is that the one person owning the affected equipment will no longer have an operating PC, micro or whatever.

All chips used in airplanes, lifts etc. will be changed as part of normal maintenance within the magic date. If not, well, then you may get a day or two off after New Years Eve in 1999. If an airplane is affected, it may not be able to take off on January 1, 2000. No big deal, no society crisis. Nor any "smoke in the cockpit" downing. In fact, our current economy "needs" cases like this to keep the industry running.

All major IT users (Fortune 500 organizations etc.) have their Y2K projects well under way. Problems may arise for medium to smaller businesses having bought packaged systems, but without their own systems personnel. If they are already on the edge, they may go out of business. If they are financially healthy, they will already be upgrading or planning their upgrades. In some countries, government bodies may be in trouble. This may however render positive effects to the public. As one example, IRS spokesmen have in private conversations said that they will not be able to get their systems Y2K ready, and that a flat tax will be introduced as of Year 2000.

One negative effect could be that with all the resources being poured into the Y2K projects currently, the IT industry, consultants etc. could get into a smaller recession sometime between 2000 and 2003, when all Y2K projects, cleanup after failed Y2K efforts as well as projects delayed due to the Y2K activities are finalized. Then again, we may have other more pressing issues at hand by that time.

Offered by Jan