What was the Y2K?

Question

yes I sound young but really what was it?

Answer 1

What is Y2K Bug?
During 1960s to late 80s there was a widespread practice in all computer softwares to use two digits for repreasenting a year rather than using 4 digits. This was done to save computer disk and memory space because these resources were relatively expensive in those times. As the year 90's approached experts began to realize this major shortcoming in the computer application softwares. In year 2000, the computer systems could interpret 00 as 1900 messing up all the computing work. For example if a program function is calculating difference between two dates, it would calculate a negative number. For example difference between 1 Jan 2000 and 31 Dec 1999 could be calculated as -100 years rather than 1 day. This was a major bug for the whole finance industry. The bug not only existed in computer software but it also existed in the firmware being used in the computer hardware. In general this bug threatened all the major industries including utilities, banking, manufacturing, telecom, airlines.


How was it averted?
Y2K bug was a clicking time bomb for all major computer applications. The computer and system application companies came out with year 2000 compliant operating systems and system software. IT companies around the world spent billions of dollars to go through their entire application source code to look for the Y2K bug and fix it. Almost everybody raced around to make themselves Y2K compliant before the fast approaching deadline. Finally when the big day came, many utilities and other companies switched off their main computers and put the backup computers on work. When the clock ticked Jan 1, 2000, no major problems were reported. Almost every bank worked fine, no major power outages were reported, airplanes still flew and the whole world went on with its normal life.

Answer 2

The year 2000 problem (also known as the Y2K problem and the millennium bug) was a flaw in computer program design that caused some date-related processing to operate incorrectly for dates and times on and after January 1, 2000. It turned into a major fear that critical industries (electricity, financial, etc.) and government functions would stop working at 12:00 AM, January 1, 2000, and at other critical dates which were billed as "event horizons".

Answer 3

Y2K stands for the Year 2000, since K often stands for 1000, like in kilogram.

There's also 'The Y2K Bug' in computer programs, where everybody expected old computer programs to crash around the world at New Year 1999/2000 because the date and time would go back to 1970 on the stroke of midnight. see article link.

Answer 4

The Year 2000 problem (also known as the Y2K problem, the millennium bug, and the Y2K Bug) was the result of a practice in early computer program design that caused some date-related processing to operate incorrectly for dates and times on and after January 1, 2000. It engendered widespread concern that critical industries (such as electricity or financial) and government functions would cease operating at exactly midnight, January 1, 2000, and on other critical dates which were billed as "event horizons". This fear was fueled by the attendant press coverage and other media speculation, as well as corporate and government reports. Companies and organizations world-wide checked and upgraded their computer systems. The preparation for Y2K thus had a significant effect on the computer industry. No significant computer failures occurred when the clocks rolled over into 2000. Debate continues on whether the absence of computer failures was the result of the preparation undertaken or whether the significance of the problem had been overstated.

Answer 5

The year of 2000

Answer 6

It was the fear that the year 2000 would screw up computers around the world and be the end of society as we know it.

I made lots of money working on a major Y2K project. ;-)

Answer 7

It was a bunch of hype about nothing. Some people thought that computers would malfunction because the date was going to change from 99 to 2000 and that could potentially make them shut down and cause chaios

Answer 8

The year 2000. =]

Answer 9

it was the year 2000,

y= year
2=2
k=thousand

it was the millenium- Y2K is an abbreviation sort of

Answer 10

The year 2000.

Y=Year
K=Kilo=1000