Y2k Essay, Research Paper

Millennium Bug When the ball lights up in New York on January 1, 2000 will you be celebrating or will you be trying to find out what happened to your computer? Many people will face this problem as we enter the new millennium. The year 2000 problem has resulted from the common practice of using two digits to designate the calendar year instead of using four. When the year 2000 arrives, 2 digit year dates may be interpreted incorrectly causing many problems. Computer hardware and software may not recognize “00″ as an actual date and will not run properly or not at all. Credit Card systems may not recognize “00″ as a valid year for the expiration date, making transactions for those cards with “00″ as the expiration date impossible. Day of the week calculations will be off. Computers may interpret 1/1/00 as Jan. 1, 1900. 1/1/1900 was a Monday but 1/1200 is a Saturday so all day of the week calculations will be two days off. The scope of this problem is world wide. All products using the two digit technology are potentially at risk. The “Millennium Bug” could be bring failure to everything from personal computers, home security systems, mainframes, and telecommunications equipment. The effects of the Year 2000 problem will be felt in homes, business, and government. The Year 2000 problem can either make you or break you. If you are protected you can sit back and laugh at those who are less fortunate but if you let the Y2K problem infect you Good Luck. ” Year 2000 conformity shall mean that neither performance nor functionality is affected by dates prior to, during, and after the year 2000.”. Every body that deals with this problem must be ready. To avoid the Y2K problems your computer must first be checked for compliance. Software is available that can check your computer for compliance and even make your computer Y2k compliant. Desktop computers can be checked with a simple utility but larger systems and networks may require more expertise to avoid the potential dangers. Many resources are available for checking your computer and to take the appropriate measures to correct any problems. This problem is huge. Business and government stand to lose billions of dollars if the problem is not corrected. Businesses are either already in compliance or in the process of dodging the possible disaster of the Y2k crash. around you? Only you can answer this question. As it finally sets in that the world is shutting down. There should be only one question left to ask yourself. Will the world be ready in time for the Year 2000? burst