Why is the Y2K problem being overlooked? The Year 2000 is rapidly approaching! Will we be ready in time?
Y2K stands for Year 2000 Catastrophe. Y2K seems to be overlooked for a variety of reasons. One of the biggest reasons is because people are not aware that there is a Y2K problem because so few are computer literate. Most of the general public, while being exposed to computers, just does not realize how computers have taken over the grueling task of keeping our country running. From writing social security checks to timing traffic signals, keeping banking account records to controlling food stocks at the local supermarket, computers are involved.
Some other reasons include that the general public just doesn't care about Y2K and that the government doesn't want to expose the issue and cause a panic. No one in the world knows what's going to happen. Y2K could cause chaos and destruction, or just pass over as if nothing happened. The real question on my mind is what's going to happen to when the world hits midnight on January 1, 2000?
Dale Kasler explains, "The Y2K problem is this: Many computer programs recognize years only by the last two digits, rendering them incapable of telling the difference between 1900 and 2000" (2). My definition of Y2K is billions of computers that can't decipher the difference between a two-digit date and a four-digit date. This problem makes the computers go haywire, or just shut down because it doesn't know the difference between 1900 and 2000. For example, the computers figure out how old you are by the year of your birth year. I am 19 years old by subtracting '79 from the current year of '99, but in two years when I subtract '79 from '00 I will be -79 years old.
"The Government was first notified in 1969-70" says Rickey Staves, RGS Consultants, President. The government overlooked the Y2K problem, because they figured that they didn't need to worry about it. Yes, there was a cri...