Tales In Tech History: The Y2K Bug

End Of The World?

And other industries were equally concerned. Utility suppliers for example could have found their power plants, which depend on routine computer maintenance for safety checks, would suddenly not have the correct dates, which would then impact their maintenance calculations. This could have had extremely serious consequences for nuclear power plants for example.

The transportation industry was also at this time highly dependent on the correct time and date, and the list of possible affected industries went on and on.

The potential impact of the Y2K bug was therefore colossal.

And it wasn’t just a software issue. Sure, software was at risk from the Y2K problem, but so was a lot of hardware as well.

This was because many every day systems such as lifts, heating systems etc, utilised computer chips which were hardcoded with the Y2K bug. There was thus great concern that these ’embedded systems’ would be impacted by the Y2K problem.

So what happened? Was there computing armageddon when the world reached 1 January 2000?

Well to put it frankly, no there wasn’t.

Yes there were a few problems, and perhaps the most serious was at a nuclear energy facility in Ishikawa, Japan, where some of radiation equipment failed. That said, backup facilities ensured there was no threat to the public.

So on the first day of January 2000, the world breathed a collective sigh of relief.

Soon however accusations were made that the Y2K risk had been grossly overblown by those companies offering Y2K fixes and services.

It is hard to determine the accuracy of this position. Yes the Y2K bug did swallow huge amounts of money, and in the end very little actually went wrong. Some countries spent billions, whilst others spend virtually nothing.

But some would argue that the Y2K threat was very real, and if the money had not been spent, the impact of the Y2K bug could have been more severe.

History will make its judgement on the matter, but what can be safely said is that all the Y2K fears associated with the turn of the millennium were pretty much for naught.

Indeed, 1 January 2000 is now perhaps best known as the day when Russian President Boris Yeltsin unexpectedly resigned.

His successor was none other than Prime Minister Vladimir V. Putin.

Quiz: What do you know about cybersecurity in 2017?