I came across a article on FaceBook a while ago about an entire group of Y2K Truthers who claimed to have save the world from the Y2K Armageddon, and it got me to thinking back to the year 2000 when all was supposed to crash and burn.
On December 31, 1999 I was patiently waiting “the end” setting at my Windows 95 computer, waiting for what might come next.. As everyone else seen, Nothing.. But was there a huge fallout from all technology that was imminent? Personally, I think no..
Many on this FaceBook Page i mentioned above stated that they worked up until midnight, for many businesses and companies changing years from two to four digits in all their code.. Admittedly I didn’t know anywhere near what I know today regarding computers and etc, But Let me throw a few theory’s at you..
1. IF dates were stored in a database as a two digit year instead of four (which seems stupid and lazy programming to begin with) the WORSE case scenario that could have happened in this case would be at the beginning of the new year, The computer would recognize the date as a time in the past, therefor making everyone’s bills free for the next 99 years, or until fixed..
Even if the reverse effect were to happen, The system would think that everyone’s bills were past due, and would initiate a disconnection, unlikely but even if that were the case, Many services were done manually by a person back then.. So your power wouldn’t have immediately went out… You would have been scheduled for disconnection..
2. If the theory were remotely correct that all this code had to be changed at the very last minuet due to lack of preparation (which sounds like a you problem) What is your excuse for things that were not yet connected to the internet? VCR/DVD (did DVD exist back then, Dont think so…) Televisions that kept dates, In fact my old TV did keep the date, and changing it from 99 to 00 wasn’t hard at all, It actually lasted until 04 until it finally blew.. By the theory if THAT was the issue, it should have stopped working 1-1-00
So, I am not one to believe everything I hear and only half the things I see. Interested to see if anyone has any different opinion or fact to back their side.. Seeing how things are coded now, A full format year and time is standard when working with SQL, I couldn’t imagine why anyone would even consider doing it differently, Seems very inefficient.
Did I turn my computer off before Midnight? No.. In fact, I had never even connected my computer to the internet since I got it.. it really wasn’t a thing at that point in time.. We really didn’t get internet until after 2001.
Fun fact on 1-1-2000 I was 9 years old, and was grounded from the computer that night.. But i had the ability to stay up later than everyone else LOL.
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