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"The
problem is that when computers were introduced to the worlds
of government, banking, and big business, memory space was
at a premium, so much so that every bit and byte was counted
and programs were designed to use as little memory as possible.
One way of shaving off a few figures here and there was
to record the year by its last two digits, so '1998' is
shortened to '98'. Which works just fine, until midnight
on December 31st 1999 when that counter clicks over from
99, to 00. Without the first two digits of the year, the
computer cannot know that it is the year 2000, and must
effectively work on the presumption that it is 1900, all
over again. Of course the programmers who created this system
could foresee this would cause a problem, but as well as
a degree of short-termism there was a widespread disbelief
that anyone would be using the same computers and programs
nearly thirty years later. They were wrong, and the result
is that our computers, those symbols of progress and forward
thinking, will doggedly refuse to leave the last century."
- Excerpted
from the BBC
Education: Millennium
Bug Information
More
info can be found at:
Y2000
FAQ's , FAQ's
on the year 2000 and Yahoo's
Year 2000 links
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