Dripfree Posted May 21, 2013 Share Posted May 21, 2013 So I picked up a belkin 2 port data transfer switch the other day. The box was dated 1999. I was very pleased to see I had not just purchased a worthless piece of garbage because the box had a nice little blue and yellow "year 2000 y2k compliant" logo. I was in high school back then I remember hearing all the worst case scenarios planes falling from the sky and whatnot, but obviously nothing happened. So I've heard it said that the only reason nothing happened was because we were so prepared. Is that true? I understand it was a software issue but what danger was there ever really? Never really found out for myself if there was any danger or not. But someone on here has got to know maybe even some one who worked on solving it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Osgeld Posted May 21, 2013 Share Posted May 21, 2013 the date would roll back to 1900 on computers not prepared for it, which means large legacy systems like government, banking and the likes Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donnicton Posted May 21, 2013 Share Posted May 21, 2013 Basically to save space in early computing, programmers used only two digits to denote a year, i.e. the last two numbers - ex. 06/12/84, meaning 1984. It went on like that until the early-mid 90s when people started actually paying attention to what happens when it rolled past 99 on these dates. When it rolled over to 00, computers would translate that as 1900 instead - even some computers that by then were already using four digit year codes. This was especially true when transferring dates records between computers on a network. This of course was not supposed to happen, and there was a lot of concern that it would severely throw off time sensitive information such as financial transaction records and government related majiggers. Fortunately nothing like that really happened by the time 2000 hit. Now whether this was because of all of the preparation that was done is up for debate, but fortunately we didn't have to find out first hand what could have happened if we didn't do anything at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mayhem Posted May 21, 2013 Share Posted May 21, 2013 Given I spent six months fixing Y2K non compliant code back in 1998, I can definitely say the threat was real. Because a lot of people and time was thrown at it early enough, the fallout was quite minimal overall. And yes, a lot of it was as Donnicton explained. The problem with the fixes however, is that many of them could not be expanded (due to database structures) past saying similar to: IS <two digit year> less than 30? YES = consider 21st century NO = consider 20th century So the code will be obsolete in due time and would need to be rewritten along with completely redesigning the databases to store four digit years at all points. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
high voltage Posted May 21, 2013 Share Posted May 21, 2013 (edited) Hehe remember that guy from UK morning television, Richard from Richard and Judy, he thought everything will blackout, England will be thrown back into the dark ages, and he bought a house full of supplies, toilet rolls and wotnot. We laughed..... My Psion Organiser II reverted back to some old date, still worked normally though. Edited May 21, 2013 by high voltage Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Cafeman Posted May 21, 2013 Share Posted May 21, 2013 I was also very busy back in 98 and 99 , in the MIS department of my company which had lots of legacy COBOL systems. We hired lots of contractors, mostly older guys that had retired as COBOL programmers. We used "wrappers" to cleanly upgrade 2-digit years to 4-digit years. We had to work mandatory 6-day weeks for most of 99. Being salaried, I wasn't paid 1 dime extra for all that O.T. I think I got a $100 restaurant gift card at the end of the year, whip-ee. I remember the first y2k bug that stuck us was in 1996. Leap year logic in a certain program wasn't Y2k-compliant; it added 4 years to "96" (it was 1996) and got "00". This caused a tight inner loop, basically locking up an entire region of the mainframe. It took a day to find where the problem was happening (abend aid wasn't working; I had to look through "core dumps" - hex code! ugh!). But it was easy to fix of course. But this was seriously bad for the company, not having access to all the systems that ran in that region for a day. There could have been a lot of major problems with businesses had the industry not attacked it so quickly and so hard. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Gemintronic Posted May 21, 2013 Share Posted May 21, 2013 Y2K for me was dealing with patches to operating systems and software. Some patches M$ didn't seem fit to provide and I actually had to use 3rd party hacks for Win 95/98/2k at times. Basically, software wasn't prepared and neither were the companies that produced it. The Y2K scare actually prompted many to have disaster preparedness plans in the first place. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+nanochess Posted May 21, 2013 Share Posted May 21, 2013 In fact because all the bugs in software and computers, the world ended. But afterwards started another exactly the same, so nobody noted it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg2600 Posted May 21, 2013 Share Posted May 21, 2013 Made for a great plot point in Office Space Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FastRobPlus Posted May 21, 2013 Share Posted May 21, 2013 A fun pastime: reading Amazon reviews of Y2K readiness books. Here's a sample: 6 of 7 people found the following review helpful 4.0 out of 5 stars very good, November 17, 1999 By A Customer This review is from: Y2K for Women: How to Protect Your Home and Family in the Coming Crisis (Paperback) I bought this book about a month ago and followed everything the book said.It will take awhile but I believe I will be prepared for Y2K.I took all of my husbands money to buy a power generator.I have been burying food in the backyard.I bought 30 sf freezer and have filled it with Bird Pies.I plan on going out and buying 6 months supply of drinking water next week.I know we are facing armaggedon but with the help of this great book,I think we will be one of the few survivors. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goochman Posted May 21, 2013 Share Posted May 21, 2013 Y2k was a joke - I totally understand the need to fix the backend systems, but anyone who thought we'd go back to the dark ages was a moron. If a system didnt work - say electricity, no reason why could couldnt reset the clock back to '99 while you fixed the problem. Hording toliet paper and the like....I just laughed. No Y2K bug would keep the military's guns from working if people took to the streets. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
desiv Posted May 21, 2013 Share Posted May 21, 2013 (edited) ... but obviously nothing happened. So I've heard it said that the only reason nothing happened was because we were so prepared. Oh, stuff happened... In many places, things broke... Nothing critical that I'm aware of, but some things were missed. It was basically mitigated by all the last minute (which never should have been last minute) work that was done. Where I work, they had to hire extra COBOL programmers to go thru all the old code on the midrange to check for and fix any date issues so that they were ready for Y2K. It basically worked. I think we found a small PC app written by a contractor ages before that had some display errors.. Just google "y2k failures" for some light reading... desiv Edited May 21, 2013 by desiv Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mayhem Posted May 22, 2013 Share Posted May 22, 2013 No surprise it was COBOL programs I was fixing as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Usotsuki Posted May 22, 2013 Share Posted May 22, 2013 LOL COBOL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Gemintronic Posted May 22, 2013 Share Posted May 22, 2013 The multi-state blackout of 2003 proved that stuff happens and we're not prepared. Y2K was a seething cesspool of things to go wrong. I'm glad big business at least took it passingly serious. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carmel_andrews Posted May 22, 2013 Share Posted May 22, 2013 Y2K...I remember that, Biggest rip off, Con Job in IT history...and just to remind people what happened in the years after Y2K, IT people kept crying buckets because they were losing their jobs (something to do which the massive OVERSPEND on IT prior to 2000 and ofcourse the internet investors losing their shirts, serves them right) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
desiv Posted May 22, 2013 Share Posted May 22, 2013 Y2K...I remember that, Biggest rip off, Con Job in IT history.. Yes and no... If there hadn't been the last minute (i.e. last few years) RUSH to fix those thing, it would have been a real mess... Not world ending, but it would have been really painful... Of course, none of that code should have been written that way in the first place.. A lot of this was big iron. Those guys knew there code was going to last 30 years.. That's what they always brag about!! desiv Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Algus Posted May 22, 2013 Share Posted May 22, 2013 LOL COBOL The birthplanet of humanity is no laughing matter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesD Posted May 22, 2013 Share Posted May 22, 2013 MCI had to hire a lot of COBOL programmers to fix the billing system on their mainframes. Billing would have been a mess if they hadn't. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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