In 1999, Kim Baldwin, a 21-year-old girl who was living in Washington, heard about ‘the Y2K bug’ from a Christian church pamphlet. The pamphlet said when the clock struck on New Year’s Eve, anything run by a computer would stop working. Airplanes could fall out of the sky. Banks could crash.
Since the beginning of 1999, Y2K survival guide had become a popular type of book publishing and mass-circulation outlets such as Newsweek started printing cover stories predicting, “the day the world shuts down.”
The Y2K bug, or the year 2000 problem, triggered a global panic. In America, a toll-free federal hotline set up for the Y2K bug received 220,000 calls till mid-December. The most concerning problem is “personal preparedness,” according to one of the reports from the Washington Post in the same year. In Japan, the government recommended that “each household laid aside two or three days’ worth of supplies, kept a record of bank balances and ensured that a torch, radio and first-aid kit were close to hand”. The European Commission asked heads of state to form a working group of national officials to provide high-level coordination to battle the millennium bug. The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development issued stern reports about global preparedness.
This doomsday hysteria was caused by a computer glitch, so-called Y2K, or the year 2000 problem. Since 1960 programmers have saved precious bytes by storing years as two digits. (For instance, “60” instead of “1960.”) But when the millennium was coming, many ageing programs would not be able to distinguish 2000 from 1900.
The incorrect date could cause havoc. Banks were afraid consumers couldn’t take out a loan because the computer would calculate a rate of interest for almost 100 years. Power plants relying on routine computer maintenance without the correct date might put nearby residents at risk. As for airlines, a spokesman from Britannia airlines said before the millennium “there are risks of power failures, disruption to ground transport, to signal and traffic failures and even critical personnel being stuck in lifts”.
“It is really a serious problem.” recalled Shayne Lisson, who worked in IT sales in Melbourne at that time, “we keep to check with the large enterprise customers we were supplying IT systems.” These enterprises, including Mobil Oli(Australia), Pacific Dunlop Group, faced the risk of system failure. Also, Shayne noticed many companies spent huge amounts of money updating their servers and software systems in prevention of Y2K, therefore, they had no budget left for IT spend from 2000 to 2002.
In more than twenty-one countries, governments appropriated money to defend against disaster. American businesses and the government had spent an estimated $100 billion to get ready for the Y2K bug. Vincent Treewell, who used to be a deputy sheriff in Milwaukee, US, clearly remembers how Milwaukee County Jail made plans for this “non-event”. Power outages and disruptions in the food supply chain were the main concerns for jail. Military-style rations, The Meal, Ready-to-Eat (MRE)s, and bottled water were stockpiled for inmates.
“The Wisconsin state governor had said in the press that there needed to be plans in place ‘in case all the doors in the state prisons pop open at midnight on New Year’s Eve’- so we didn’t know what to expect.” Vincent said. And there were concerns of rioting and looting producing a sudden swell in the jail population when the jail was least able to handle it.
The clock was ticking and the world was ushering in a millennium. No one knew what kind of future was waiting for them. Prince’s popular song “1999” was played in many places.
“Ooh, 1999, oh, 1999
Don’t stop, don’t stop, say it one more time
2000, zero-zero, party over, oops, out of time”
People unfamiliar with computer systems felt fraught. Kim’s best friend’s dad who had given them the pamphlet about cataclysm was prepared for the worst. He filled shelves in aisles through the garage with generators, cans of petrol, and a lot of canned food. “His garage looked like a legit grocery store,” Kim said, “I knew that if something really happened, I could go to my friend’s house.”
In Milwaukee Vincent Treewell and his wife stocked up on canned food and bottled water, some first aid supplies, some money in cash (in case the ATMs wouldn’t work), and a small camping stove. “And, of course, bullets for the guns,” he added.
Eventually, New Year’s Eve arrived. Some people tried to withdraw money from ATM machines to make sure the bank balance was right. Some were afraid to check their computers. In countries including the UK and Canada, the armed forces were put on high alert to deal with any protracted outbreaks of public disorder.
“December 31st was a regular off-day for me,” Vincent said, “I watched a lot of news on TV all day on New Years’ Eve. Once Australia and New Zealand seemed to get through it all right, I calmed down a lot.”
“After midnight I waited to see if anything fell out of the sky, if the lights were still on, if my car started.” Kim remembered, “Obviously, it was fine. I immediately threw away my Y2K pamphlet.”
Shayne, who was convinced all along that Y2K would not harm individuals, went to a casino and had a party with friends. “I was excited about turning into 2000. I was twenty-seven years old in the IT sector and the Internet was being developed.”
Nowadays Y2K seems like a panicked overreaction. Born in 2000 and now studying at Bournemouth University, UK, Josh K found it funny when he went to the hospital in 2018, he was given a form with “19__” prefilled on the year field.
From 1999 our life has become more independent of computer systems and the Internet. Do we have more strong faith in it? The year 2000 problem panic passed, and the world will face the year 2038 problem, another time formatting bug that will occur in the year 2038 in 32-bit systems.
As for this thing, Josh said, “I would imagine due to the hard work of engineers who foresaw Y2K. What worries me more personally is the year 2038 problem which seems like a very real threat – probably just as real as Y2K seemed back then.”
Featured image credits: [Flickr:Erica Fischer]