I was reminded yesterday of Y2k. Do you remember the potential earth-shattering reality of all the computers stopping at 11:59:59 pm on December 31, 1999, and never working again? It was a crisis in the IT world. I remember that all of us working with customers directly back then had to register our cellular phones and our home phones in case of a problem. Most of the systems that we were supporting were not going to have an issue. The problem was going to be with older computers and older software that had hard-coded dates (199x) where the three numbers were actually in the code and the only variable was the 4th number. People, companies, and governments were panicking.
The crisis came and went and frankly forgot to have an impact. It is not a bitter or angry memory that I am sharing. Rather, that what happened happened. We, the IT consultants I worked with, start talking to customers in August 1999. We explained that the systems we were building were not going to have issued “provide it,” the customer would say. We would set up a lab that emulated some of the overall solutions the customer had and then set the date to Dember 31, 1999 and 59 seconds. We would stand there with the customer and watch as the system clock ticked into what would have been a new year, but 5, 4 or even three months early.
It’s a lab. They would say. But they also felt better. Several systems did die that day, but that was expected. We knew some of the older systems wouldn’t be able to do the conversion. We, as IT consultants, were deeply shocked at how many systems didn’t care about the great disaster. Even though they were not able to recognize the year 2000, they keep working as if they were 1999a. The very coverage of the problem greatly exploded the reality of the problem. Sometimes, when information is pushed instead of pulled you run the risk of what happened with the Great Y2K debacle. There was so much agony, stress, and frustration leading up to something that was probably nothing, to begin with. To this day, that is why I always check sources!
Do you remember Y2k?
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Question of
Will you share in the comments where you were December 31, 1999?
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Yes
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No
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Question of
Do you remember Y2k?
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Yes
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No
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Question of
did you wait for the great disaster to strike in 1999?
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Yes
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No
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Question of
sources matter, right?
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Yes
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No
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Question of
sometimes we have to walk away from hype, right?
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Yes
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No
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Question of
hindsight is 20/20 right?
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Yes
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No
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For 1/1/2000, I was at home because there was no way of knowing what was going to happen. Now, I have perfect vision for 2020 because hindsight is 20/20.
ha! good one!
I spent a lot of time waiting that night.
Q: WILL YOU SHARE IN THE COMMENTS WHERE YOU WERE DECEMBER 31, 1999?
Yes (6 votes) – 75%
No (2 votes) – 25%
Q: DO YOU REMEMBER Y2K?
Yes (5 votes) – 63%
No (3 votes) – 38%
Q: DID YOU WAIT FOR THE GREAT DISASTER TO STRIKE IN 1999?
Yes (3 votes) – 38%
No (5 votes) – 63%
Q: SOURCES MATTER, RIGHT?
Yes (6 votes) – 100%
Q: SOMETIMES WE HAVE TO WALK AWAY FROM HYPE, RIGHT?
Yes (6 votes) – 100%
Q: HINDSIGHT IS 20/20 RIGHT?
Yes (6 votes) – 100%
31 December 1999 – – – I was not exactly in heaven. I was, back then, trying to reinvent my life after being in a company for over 9 years. Around this time, I just finished the family obligation of sending my 3 siblings thru college and thought it was time to rebuild my own dream.
I remember you had told me that you put your sibs through college. honor to you for that. i can’t imagine the pixie at a desk for nine years.
that is hard to put my head around.
I was holding a desk job for 16 years (admin, sales and marketing, non-government org too) – – – something I probably would not want to go back to ?
Pixies should be free, not chained to a desk!
Well, I got better in writing because of my desk job. I was an executive assistant for more than 9 years and my job covers two companies (a consulting firm and the other one is into rose growing) owned by the big boss plus the 3 NGOs he was involved with. The variety of responsibilities prevent boredom until the time I wanted to spread my wings a bit more.
that is a good thing overall then. I just struggle to put “the” you I know from your writing behind a desk!
Oh, no worries, I also sprinkle dust of peskiness over there ???. When I joined the company, I was told that to be careful with the VP coz she was a terror. So, everytime she would try to show her fangs, I would say: “Oh please do not scare me as I am already scared, Ms. P.” ?
that I can imagine! Did she ever figure it out?
She figured out it is pointless to do that to a pixie ??? I tutored her on how to use MS Word and Excel. I also got to make her change her wardrobe ??? (instruction from the big boss but he knew I was the only person who can make her listen to such ridiculous idea ?)
now that sounds more like the pixie I know! Changing the world one scarf at a time!!!
hindsight is only 20/20 when you use it. back in 87, I took a programming class and was taught to use four digits for encoding the year because of the Y2K issue. but as per usual, the bean counters didn’t want to spend the money to fix it back when it was cheaper and easier to fix. they passed the buck and kept waiting until the last minute to fix things
doing the same thing with climate destabilization because we never learn
it has become the sad reality of our world. I remember sitting in CIO’s office telling them, it won’t fail.
It didn’t
I remember winding my mother up, asking if her refrigerator was y2k compliant…
i remember my wife asking about the TV, the cable and the furnace.
the furnace? there isn’t even a processor there
funny thing, the system that everyone was most worried about (power gird) had some SAS software – it simply reset to 1900 until it could be upgraded!
that’s an ugly fix, but if it works…
it had been tested and worked in the labs, but people were terrified. of course, their billing system was screwed up and required massive manual intervention.
a 100 dollar power bill, with 100 years of interest becomes around an 1100 dollar power bill!!!!
it’s ugly, requires other ugly fixes but still better than catastrophic failure
so they panicked, sitting in their control rooms watching lights that never stopped blinking, hoping that meant everything was working.
Some of those places still have computers running software on windows 98 today!!!
seriously?!? at least use NT, so much more stable
the old SAS sensors couldn’t be loaded on NT. NT was locked as far as kernel shifting while 95, 98 let you do that.
You can’t now in 10, but those devices are updated once every 10 years or so.
wow. you really know your infrastructure!
sadly that is still the case. I know how old things don’t like new things!
yeah, legacy hardware holding us back
The hardware ended up being often dumb enough that y2k didn’t matter. 1900 and 2000 work the same as long as you aren’t billing.
hahaha no wonder we are so screwed. 30+ years and that’s the solution? what’s the solution for climate destabilization, fentanyl?
i suspect enough pain killers would eventually make climate change go away.
It was less of a reliance and more a desperation. we tested a lot of that stuff with customers.
I can honestly tell you there was sheer terror in the eyes of many CIOs.
the face you get when you realize you’re stuck with the hot potato…
My world was full of happiness then. I entered into 2000 with no worries and in the company of my soul mate and family and friends. So I remember with fondness now I am entering 2020 all alone.
sorry to dredge up tough memories. it was an interesting time in the world.
I didn’t have a computer at the time, dear friend … but I well remember where I waited for the year 2000 …. we were waiting for him in good company and good music in one home inn
you probably didn’t even care about the pending crisis, no computer, no Y2K!!
glad you had fun that evening.
At the time, computers really didn’t interest me at all … I knew there were why, but I didn’t know because I wasn’t interested
i understand that, many things have not interested me over the years!
And if I remember how I was against buying a computer … all my friends already had it, but I didn’t
there is a path for all of us pal. You came to the place where the computer had value for you!
I don’t remember Y2k. I was at home waiting for the new year. We were in a lot of panic as they talked about the end of the world
yes there was a lot of doomsday predictions fun to make fun of those now!
Dustin and I never believed anything bad was going to happen. He was big into computers. He laughed at the people who were worried. He was 13.
that was a very smart position to take. It was nothing afterall!!!
It’s interesting how people blowed this out of proportion and at some point they were expecting the end of the world (at least here, because information always came slower). I had no idea it started from computers not being able to switch to 2000.
yup the banks were freaking out because if their systems didn’t properly update it would impact the global economy.