What is causing this big computer scare? The big problem is when computers were first designed the makers only put a two-digit dating system instead of four. This is because the programmers did not have the money for a four-digit system. The two-digit system only reads the last two numbers in the year. For example 1999 reads 99. The four digits would interpret this as 1999. When the New Year approaches the computers will read 1900 instead of 2000. "This is not computer industry hype, this problem affects everyone and it could have some dire consequences if it's ignored"(B. Hall Sun Sentinel pg.1).

If this 'bug' is not corrected it could ruin the whole computer industry. The bug could effect everything from bank accounts to retirement

People knew this problem existed but were too lazy to fix it (Sun Sentinel pg.2). There is no clear-cut way to solve this problem yet. Although our own computers will be effected certain software such as Window's 95, and Window's NT can deal with it. It can handle dates from 1980 to 2099. It will cost about $1.10 million per line of programming code, or an estimated $30 million per company, for most Fortune 1,000 companies (sun sentinel pg.2). Who will be the people who do fix this? Those who are familiar will the problem and are able to correct it are hot commodities. There is such a limited amount of adept programmer that their wages have sky rocketed. Maybe to reach as high as $150,000 by the end of the century. Many of the older programmers's from the 80's are being brought out of retirement to deal with this situation. Most have begun work with the federal government, who is conducting the largest millenium conversion. The social security administration has spent 100 person-years fixing its mainframe computers under a $30 million program (Kathleen Adams, agency spokeswomen)

funds. Air Travel could be shut down because the computer will think that the airplanes are a century old. Certain payments could be mis calculated for being a hundred years old.

Some people out there fail to belief in this problem. They don't believe in all this Y2K hype. They feel that the idea of this huge bomb waiting to explode is all hype. Sure this is a problem but is it really over hyped? If you take care of it early enough you have nothing to worry about they feel. But in fact it is a huge problem. It will take a lot of time to find every computer that is equipped with the two-digit t

Some common words found in the essay are:
Machine Corps, Paul Taylor, Window's NT, Kathleen Adams, Social Security, , Sun Sentinel, Air Travel, Financial Times, Sun Sentenial, sun sentinel, sirs 28 oct, computer industry, social security, 28 oct, oct 1999, 31 1999, clock strikes, paul taylor, sun sentinel pg2, sentinel pg2, 28 oct 1999, sirs 28,
Approximate Word count = 1149
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)