Y2K - the Millenium Bug
The Y2K problem, the year 2000 bug, and the millenium bug are all different names for the same major problem that all computers face once the clock strikes midnight, January 1, 2000. Some say that it is only a minor glitch, yet some experts refer to it as "Armageddon." The problem stems from old systems which store the year portion of dates in two-digit form (i.e.: 1997 is stored as "97"). Years ago, COBOL programmers used this approach to conserve memory because it was very costly then. This actually is a very ingenious system, because it is simple, it saves a lot of memory, and it works. However, the original programmers overlooked one major problem: When the century (or millenium) changes to a year ending in "00," the computer will misinterpret the "00" to mean "1900" instead of "2000." Some people also point out that the systems may not be able to recognize the year 2000 as a leap year, because it is only one out of every four centuries that is a leap year, causing the computer to skip February 29, 2000 (if it even makes it past January 1).
Most large-scale companies are spending hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars on tracking down and fixing this problem. However, many experts say that most businesses will not go under. They say that if any businesses do go under, it will be the small businesses which do not have the capacity to deal with a problem of this scale. The large businesses, however, do have the capability to cope with this problem with minimal losses. These businesses, such as the Microsoft Corporation and Intelc, have done extensive research on the Y2K problem, spending in the millions of dollars, and have developed hardware and software which is Y2K compliant. They are also making efforts to inform the public of the problem and communicate to them how to prepare for it through newspapers, television, and the Internet. In addition, many companies offer software for download which will test a user's system for Y2K compatibility. he Y2K problem is the fact that nobody knows exactly what is going to happen. Experts are unable to determine how a system is going to react when it encounters 12:00 AM
Some common words found in the essay are:
, Corporation Intelc, Clock RTC, Microsoftc Windows, january 1, 1 2000, january 1 2000, Compliant Ready, midnight january 1, midnight january, y2k compliant, system y2k, businesses businesses, track date, millions dollars, hardware software,
Approximate Word count = 736
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)
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