Retro Recap: Y2K - The Millennium Bug

y2k Retro Recap 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. Vanessa Solis | Publications & Advertising Coordinator Tennessee Association of Utility Districts the millennium bug

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.

In the days and months following Y2K, there were a number of reported issues related to the bug, but the majority of these were minor.

01/01/00 The U.S. Naval Observatory, which runs the master clock that keeps the country's official time, gave the date on its website as 1 Jan 19100. France's national weather forecasting service had this same problem. It was also reported that 150 Delaware racino (a combination racing track and casino) slot machines stopped working and bus ticket validation machines in two Australian states failed to operate.

Japan saw quite a bit of Y2K-related action, including the failure of radiation-monitoring equipment at midnight in the Ishikawa Prefecture. Two minutes later, an alarm sounded at a nuclear power plant only 13 miles away. Officials reported that the public was not at risk.

03/01/00 & 12/31/00 In addition to the date format issue, another Y2K bug in some software did not recognize 2000 as a leap year, causing additional yet still minor issues on March 1, 2000 and wouldn't you know it- New Year's Eve 2000.

Almost twenty years later it's hard to believe how far technology has advanced. A number of devices we were so concerned about then are no longer widely used. Looking back, it can be easy to laugh at all of the hype and hysteria surrounding Y2K but for those that lived it, the fear of the unknown was real.