Y2K Bug Essay, Research Paper

David Eggleston

Review of Literature

2/24/99

Teri Ferguson

Y2K Bug

The turn of the century is rapidly approaching. This should be a time of high hopes for the future; the United States has advanced in all sorts of technology. The United States has advanced a great deal with computers, which are able to automate many difficult jobs, calculate extravagant equations, and make life easier for most people. The computer is an amazing tool allowing the United States to excel in the world. But, computers can also be the loadstone of the United States in the year 2000. The computer bug commonly known as Y2K can cause this. Y2K will cause a computer?s date registry to read ?00? in which the computer will interpret ?1900?. Many people have their own opinions about how this will effect the United States and to what degree it will be effected, if the United States will be effected at all.

A writer for Time Magazine states that there are wide ranges of people that are being effected in different ways by the Y2K problem. The author describes how many people are preparing for the worst and that some of those people believe that the Biblical Armageddon will arrive in the year 2000. It was stated that the Y2K problem is just another thing to keep people entertained. This was described by how the movie industry moved from spy movies such as ?James Bond? at the end of the cold war to more sci-fi movies such as ?Godzilla? because there was no real world problem. The purpose of this article is to simply point out that there is an actual problem with the Y2K phenomenon in order to make people aware that there are dangers even if it is just in the form of doomsayers. These points of the author are strong enough and realistic enough to make the problem known to the people but does not display any idea one way or the other.

A marketing organization known as Arial Marketing posted a contingency plan on the internet that gives a view that there is going to be a strong enough problem with Y2K that one must prepare for it. This argument is supported by a few quotes from officials and high-ranking people in their respective fields. Arial Marketing made this posting slanting toward the fact that there will definitely be a problem with Y2K. Arial Marketing has even posted bad and a worst case preparation table. The purpose of this site is to tell people that their will be a Y2K problem and that in order to help people prepare for a situation

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two. This opinion is a strong one that is well presented and cautious with the quotes from many people backing it up.

In ?The Year 2000 Problem: The Year the Earth Stands Still? Written by a one Gary North, Gary North clearly argues his own opinion about the Y2K problem. He really does not support his case by any facts other than his strong determination to make sure that everyone knows his point of view. The point of view that he tends to support is one of terrible visions of the absolute worst case scenario of the Y2K problem. He does not have any other kind of opinion of anything less and is quite sure of the idea that the world will crash because of the Y2K problem. The purpose of this article is to display Gary North?s opinion of the Y2K problem in order to get people to prepare for the worst. The argument that Gary North has presented is a weak one for he has only state opinionated facts and has not supported this argument with any hard evidence.

In just under a year the year 2000 will arrive with many hopes but it will also arrive with a Y2K bug. This bug will definitely effect some things, and maybe effect major things. The only thing that the people can do is simply prepare for the worst and hope for the best. Many organizations and even the government of the United States are working and hacking at this problem. Many organizations are making headway and will be ready to great the new millennium; others will most likely still be cracking down on the problem. The thing that the individual all the way to the general population must realize is that worrying and predicting doom are the major problems that society is facing and will face during the year 2000.