Y2k Bug Essay, Research Paper

One of my biggest concerns about the turning of the new millennium is one that s been getting a lot of press as of late. That is the Year 2000 (Y2k) Bug. The Y2k bug has to do with how a particular computer will deal with the year 2000. No Macintosh product will have any problems with the so called “bug” because when the Mac was developed, they used four digits to represent the year, allowing 2000 to be read as “2000″ and not just “00.” As a matter of fact, the Macintosh can read up to the year 29,948 (but don t worry, they re already hard at work on the Y30k problem.) The problem will occur, however, in non-Macintosh based computers (IBM, Compaq, Gateway, etc.) They will read 2000 as “00″ and will interpret that as 1900, making the computer think it just jumped back a century. For the average citizen, though, this might not even be noticed on their personal computer. The impact of this bug will be felt more in the business field, where ancient IBM-based PCs are still being used. You might get a bank statement with 100 years of interest, or maybe 100 years of late fees. Air traffic control computers will go down, completely blinding any and all aircraft already in flight, let alone the computers in the aircraft themselves. Blackouts will happen all over the world, and an over-all panic will set in. Unless, of course, they re using Macs.

It makes me wonder why Apple only has about 10% of the world computer market. Maybe it s all one big conspiracy, started by the Federal Government, forcing us all back into the dark ages, all because they refused to “Think Different.”

Some companies have tried to come out with fixes for the Y2k bug, but they probably succeed in time. Companies like Microsoft say that their newest upgrades will fix the bug, but that s still only the computers running Windows. Computers like the ones used in air traffic controlling don t use Windows at all. They re specially manufactured computers with an operating system specifically designed to do a particular task, nothing more. In order to fix the bug on a computer like that, it requires actually sitting at the computer and re-writing hundreds of lines of code.

In conclusion, I d recommend we pay off our credit cards, withdraw any money we have from the bank, don t fly anywhere for New Year s, and move to a cave somewhere in northern Wyoming. Oh yeah, and with the money left over

buy a Mac.