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OMG, it’s been 20 years since the hysteria and fear over Y2K!
My ex-wife and I were living together and cooking in the kitchen when we heard our kids crying. Because of where we lived at the time we only had access to one clear antenna channel. The kids had the TV on and it was a religious organization playing a doomsday program about Y2K showing all the things that is going to happen. It was followed by all the survival products you could order from them to help you survive. My ex-wife may be a devout Christian but she’s also a former sailor and a very angry protective mother. Can’t type here the words she used when she called that group.
At work the bosses were in a panic to backup all software. Some bosses even proposed extra staffing on New Year’s Eve saying the security was worth the extra holiday pay (either more sensible or more frugal minds prevailed). I was working that night. Midnight came and went with nothing happening.
Any Y2K stories or memories?
I have to laugh at all of these uninformed responses. There were billions of dollars spent on fixing software. This was the reason there were so few issues. Most of this was necessary for computer applications like billing, scheduling, and accounting.
Yes, some of the predictions about the end of the world were ridiculous and most organizations went overboard with preparations. Consulting firms made a fortune by convincing boards of directors and top management to hire their firms to oversee planning and preparations.
I have to laugh at all of these uninformed responses. There were billions of dollars spent on fixing software. This was the reason there were so few issues. Most of this was necessary for computer applications like billing, scheduling, and accounting.
Yes, some of the predictions about the end of the world were ridiculous and most organizations went overboard with preparations. Consulting firms made a fortune by convincing boards of directors and top management to hire their firms to oversee planning and preparations.
That's one argument, but no one knows what they really did except test, create redundant networks "just in case", and created emergency procedures "just in case". I mean, maybe I just don't know - but what software fixes were really done? There were some businesses that did nothing - small businesses, some countries like Korea and Italy, many municipal governments, they simply ignored it. And they managed to survive the apocalypse.
That's one argument, but no one knows what they really did except test, create redundant networks "just in case", and created emergency procedures "just in case". I mean, maybe I just don't know - but what software fixes were really done? There were some businesses that did nothing - small businesses, some countries like Korea and Italy, many municipal governments, they simply ignored it. And they managed to survive the apocalypse.
I was the CIO of a hospital at the time and we did upgrades of most of our patient care and accounting applications. Many computer applications software was not Y2K compliant. In most cases, the vendors were required to provide the upgrades under annual service agreements but it was up to the customers to install and test the applications, especially in regard to interfaces between applications, and also between applications and monitoring equipment.
I have to laugh at all of these uninformed responses. There were billions of dollars spent on fixing software. This was the reason there were so few issues. Most of this was necessary for computer applications like billing, scheduling, and accounting.
Yes, some of the predictions about the end of the world were ridiculous and most organizations went overboard with preparations. Consulting firms made a fortune by convincing boards of directors and top management to hire their firms to oversee planning and preparations.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dd714
That's one argument, but no one knows what they really did except test, create redundant networks "just in case", and created emergency procedures "just in case". I mean, maybe I just don't know - but what software fixes were really done? There were some businesses that did nothing - small businesses, some countries like Korea and Italy, many municipal governments, they simply ignored it. And they managed to survive the apocalypse.
Exactly.
The countries and industries that did little to nothing regarding Y2K-compliance serve as control groups. They show what would happen if XYZ, Inc., didn't spend $X million dollars doing whatever was being pitched as necessary to avoid disaster.
I mean, the whole argument that since nothing happened, it shows the 'fixes' worked?
"Attention, people! If you do not buy my amazing magical pills (only $100 each, or 2/$199) and take one every day for a month, you will contract Super Duper Bad Syndrome!"
[a year later]
"Ha! No one who bought my amazing magical pills contracted Super Duper Bad Syndrome! That proves how amazingly effective they were!"
Of course, the fact that of all the people who didn't take the pills, none of them suffered from Super Duper Bad Syndrome, and just a few briefly contracted Only Mildly Annoying Syndrome is conveniently ignored.
The countries and industries that did little to nothing regarding Y2K-compliance serve as control groups. They show what would happen if XYZ, Inc., didn't spend $X million dollars doing whatever was being pitched as necessary to avoid disaster.
I mean, the whole argument that since nothing happened, it shows the 'fixes' worked?
"Attention, people! If you do not buy my amazing magical pills (only $100 each, or 2/$199) and take one every day for a month, you will contract Super Duper Bad Syndrome!"
[a year later]
"Ha! No one who bought my amazing magical pills contracted Super Duper Bad Syndrome! That proves how amazingly effective they were!"
Of course, the fact that of all the people who didn't take the pills, none of them suffered from Super Duper Bad Syndrome, and just a few briefly contracted Only Mildly Annoying Syndrome is conveniently ignored.
At that time I thought reasonable precautions included taking out cash to have on hand in case the ATM system crashed, fill gas tank and spare cans, have some bottled water on hand, have print copies of important documents on hand, and have at least a week’s worth of groceries.
I got into computer programming in 1988. By 1990, I was writing new programs and modifying existing programs.
Every program I saw at the time that had ANY kind of date logic used the two digit year. Every bit of code also contained some logic like "if year less than 50, use 20 as the century, else use 19 as the century".
I asked a senior programmer about the logic. "That's how we'll handle the turn of the century," was the reply.
1. bought $900 of .22LR in 1999. sold some during the Obama shortage for ~$4000 and bartered some for laptops, etc.
2. got a generator. it has been a "champ" after power failed due to weather (hurricanes, etc.).
3. had some future medical issues taken care of (preventive dentistry, hysterectomy, etc.).
bottom line: Y2K got us motivated to take control of what we could.
In general, the fact that hoarding stuff in response to wild-eyed doomsday scenarios might have some incidental side benefits doesn't actually make hoarding stuff in response to wild-eyed doomsday scenarios a good idea.
Also, the time to by a generator was after, not before, January 1, 2000 - because the market was then flooded with technically used (but never really used) generators.
Now, if you'll excuse me there's an asteroid heading toward Earth, so I must go get my teeth cleaned.
I remember babysitting some of my little cousins. Their mom was a RN on 3rd shift so I watched her kids for her overnight. She lived with her grandmother (my great grandmother) who was in her late 80s. Granny made me fill up like 10 empty plastic gallons with water because she thought the water would stop running on Y2K lol.
My oldest little cousin was 8 at the time and he kept getting up every 30 minutes after I put him in bed asking "it is 2000 yet?" His younger brother was about 4-5 months old and my aunt had put in some clothes in the wash before I got there and the baby had on some pink fuzzy, footed PJs. I remember Granny both lamenting that his mom put him in pink while also telling the baby himself how good he looked in pink lol. We went through old photos and she labeled them for me and told me I could have them when she died. I was 20 on 1/1/2000.
I spent from June-December 1999 working overtime so that "nothing" happened on 1/1/2000
Many of the big tech companies joined forces and coordinated efforts to check code, get changes out as patches/fixes and also jumped into the Linux community to help.
And ..."nothing" is exactly what happened !!
Yep. We billed millions updating code on government computers while working for EDS.
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