Retro Recap
y2k
the millennium bug Vanessa Solis | Publications & Advertising Coordinator Tennessee Association of Utility Districts
MM/DD/YY.This simple date format, programmed for decades into a countless number of embedded computer chips across the globe, sent the world into a bit of a frenzy in the years leading up to Y2K. Due to memory space issues, computer programmers had relied on this two-digit format when writing software and there was a growing concern among them as the millennium neared. What was going to happen when the clock struck midnight on New Year's Eve 1999? Would computer systems interpret the date change from 12/31/99 to 01/01/00 as January 1, 2000? And if it didn’t, would society collapse around us as we all shouted "Happy New Year!" and clinked our champagne glasses together? Everything from VCRs to nuclear power plants were thought to be vulnerable to the millennium bug. People scrambled to withdraw their money because it was feared that banking systems could fail. People scrambled to stock up on grocery essentials and gasoline in case of massive power and fuel outages. People did not scramble to the airport thoughplanes were theorized to potentially fall out of the sky thanks to glitches in air traffic control systems. #yikes! Thanks to the tireless efforts of hundreds - if not thousands - of computer programmers working countless hours behind the scenes, several different approaches were used to fix and upgrade computer systems worldwide, ultimately averting what had the potential to become mass chaos.
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