Y2K

Although this term simply means "Year 2000," it became a buzzword to describe the so-called "Y2K bug." Shortly prior to the year 2000, many people (both experts and laymen) became concerned that computer systems would interpret the year 2000 as 1900 since many programs recognized only the last two digits of the year. They speculated that once our clocks ticked over and the date became 01-01-00, there would be massive shutdowns and miscommunications in the computer systems that control banking, financial markets, air traffic, utilities, nuclear reactors, telecommunications, and more-even home appliances. Adding to their concerns was that 2000 was a leap year. Technically, there were three main issues: two-digit date storage, leap-year calculations, and special meanings for dates. The problem was simple to understand, and the solutions tended to be fairly simple, but it was the scope of the problem that made everyone concerned. Our civilization is so heavily reliant on computers. During several years prior to Y2K, enormous amounts of time and money were spent trying to make every hardware, software, and embedded system component "Y2K compliant." To date, this effort appears to have worked. Ever since the world rang in New Year's Day 2000, there have been very few problems related to the changeover. However, it was reported that the Y2K computer date code crisis was the single most expensive problem the world has ever faced.

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