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ATMs NOT DISPENSING CASH. VCRs not recording the 6 o’clock news. Massive power failures.
What do all of these things have in common? They have been discussed as possible results of the Year 2000 problem, also known as the “millennium bug” or “Y2K.”
The Year 2000 problem is a result of processes in which dates are stored in a two-digit year format (For example, 1998 is stored as “98”). When Jan. 1, 2000, arrives, computers may interpret two-digit year dates incorrectly. Examples of this include:
• Computer hardware and software may not recognize “00” as a valid year, and will not run properly, or may not run at all.
• Date calculations with “00” in the year field may be miscalculated, making a person born in 1964 show an age of -64 in 2000 (00–64 = -64), instead of the person’s correct age, 36 (2000–1964 = 36).
• Systems such as thermostats and elevator controls may calculate the day of the week incorrectly. The computers within these devices (called embedded systems) may see the year “00” as 1900. Jan. 1, 1900, is a Monday; however, Jan. 1, 2000, is a Saturday. All day-of-the-week calculations from Jan. 1, 2000, will be two days off.
To make matters even more complicated, there is a related issue: the leap year problem. Not every year that ends in “00” is a leap year; only years that are multiples of 400, including the year 2000, are. This means that some computer hardware and software could skip past Feb. 29, 2000, as if it didn’t exist at all.
As Jan. 1, 2000, gets closer and closer, USC’s “mission critical” systems, including accounting and student information systems, have been or are being tested for full compliance. Each school and department has designated a year 2000 coordinator who will develop a year 2000 plan for their area, with the goal of being fully year 2000-compliant by July 31, 1999.
I Dub Thee...
n a Los Angeles Times story about naming the first decade of the new century, millennial scholar Stephen O’Leary talked about the psychological effects of dubbing decades. “If you’re afraid of the future, naming it gives you symbolic control over it,” O’Leary said.
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