Y2K
Years ago, programmers caused what could have potentially been a major problem with modern computer systems. This monumental stage in history was called Y2K or in other words the Year 2000. As the speculation of what would happen at the turn of the century grew, those who depended on computers became apprehensive about the possibility of a corruption with software which could have lead to major hardships in the economy. The problem that came up in about late June of 1999 was that our computer systems had been using a 2 digit year system instead of a 4 digit system. For example they used 90 instead of using 1990. The original programmers used this method in order to save some memory space, even though it didn't save a large amount of memory but the more chances they could cut corners the better. The problem was that the computer systems would not be able to discriminate between the years 1900 and the year 2000. In order to prevent any major problems from occurring, measures were taken to repair this problem. And now that the century as already passed we can see that the precautions were not worthless. On and after January 1, 2000, there were several Y2K related problems with computers around the world, but these problems
In Kansas City, KS, a few court cases were delayed, including a civil suit regarding a wrongful death, due to Y2K related computer failure. People might have lost faith in credit card companies, which make up large portions of the economy. There were some reports of people unintentionally being billed for the same meal up to twelve times. Some people believed that the Y2K precautions were useless, and that far too much money was spent on the problem. Occurrences of minor problems related to the Y2K bug throughout the world, however, show that if the correct steps had not been taken, it is very possible that the world would have experienced a great catastrophe. The consumers involved experienced depleted accounts, bounced checks, and hours spent straightening out balances with banks and credit card companies (Y2K, par. Now that the materials they were originally attempting to conserve are relatively inexpensive, programmers would only be lazy to utilize a two-digit year instead of four. Even though these people believe there was massive overspending, no one can knowingly say whether or not this money was well spent. If these so called excess amounts of money had not been spent, there might have been more major problems. Ellen Crawford, public information officer for the Jackson County Circuit Court, commented, "There were a lot of problems and one of them was issuing summons. The only possibility of another scare mimicking this one is in 8,000 years, when the year turns to 10000.
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