Y2k Essay Research Paper Y2K CRISIS On

Y2k Essay, Research Paper

Y2K CRISIS

On January 1, 1999, the Year 2000 computer crisis will

begin. On January 1, 2000, there is a good possibility computers

around the world will crash, freezing systems for hours, days,

weeks, months or even years. The public just does not seem to

understand the gravity of this situation. Consider these actual

events: In November 1996, Mike Yarsike, who owns a gourmet food

market in Warren, Michigan ran a customer’s credit card through

his machine. Ten computerized cash registers in the store locked

shut for four hours; fifteen months later, the system was still

experiencing glitches. The credit card has an expiration date in

the year 2000. An appointment clerk in a medical organization

attempted to make an appointment for a patient for January 2000,

the entire computer network that serves 75 clinics and three

hospitals shut down for hours with continuing problems. These

kinds of computer glitches, called ’sightings,’ interrupt the

normal flow of business and are occurring throughout the world

whenever the date being entered is 2000 or beyond. There are

millions of computer software programs that cannot read any dates

beyond 1999 and experts in the field have finally realized that

not even Microsoft can offer a simple one-shot solution. Instead,

there are now legions of programmers across the world correcting

the problem, line by tedious line at enormous costs to both

governments and companies (Rock and Reynolds, 1998).

The Year 2000 Computer Bug, also known as the Millennium Bug

and as the Y2K bug sounds absurd but it is real and it could

cause mayhem in the world. Most computer programs have a

two-digit date field, thus when the year 1998 is keyed in, the

computer reads only “97.” When the year 2000 arrives, it will

register in the computer program as “00,” and it will translate

that to 1900, not 2000 (Bordwin, 1998). The two-digit format,

originally intended to save time and space on the program leaves

the computer unable to distinguish between 2000 and 1900 or 2001

and 1901. The ambiguity can cause the system or application

program that uses dates to perform calculations comparisons, or

sorting to generate incorrect results. Errors could occur in

calculating truth-in-lending/savings disclosures, calculating

interest, or determining amortization schedules. Automated teller

machines might assume that any bank card with the year 2000 on it

is expired. These kinds of errors may well expose the financial

institution to financial liability. Credit unions interface with

numerous other computer systems that belong to payment centers,

wire transfer systems, automated clearing houses, check clearing

houses, credit card merchants, automated teller machine networks,

electronic data exchange systems and more. These other systems

increase the vulnerability of the credit unions; they can

incorporate errors into the credit union’s records and systems

(MountJoy, 1998).

These are not the only institutions that will be affected.

Telephone systems may shut down as will security and alarm

systems, fax machines, elevators and even electricity. Anything

that is connected to a computer, that depends on a computer is

vulnerable (MountJoy, 1998). The general public, the average

person is for the most part unaware of the devastating results

that are possible due to the Year 2000 problem.

Experts say this will cause computers to crash and/or to

create a variety of problems, such as including bogus data or

nonsensical results in the program or records. The result could

be, and in fact, is likely to be, erroneous data for an

individual’s stock portfolio, bank accounts, social security

checks, in fact, the financial institution could lose all records

of individual members. It could also mean loss of power, loss of

all services that we take for granted in our normal everyday

lives. The potential and probable problems are so vast that books

have been written about it and dozens of Internet sites exist

that give information about how to protect yourself. For those

companies who have not yet begun to correct the problem, it is

already too late. There is not enough time now nor are there

enough trained professionals to check millions or billions of

lines of computer code to identify and correct the problem. The

results are legal issues, management problems and safety problems

(Bordwin, 1998).

Legal suits have already been filed because of the problem.

In June 1997, a supermarket operator filed suit against the

manufacturer of its computer system and the company that sold

them the system. The computer could not process credit cards with

an expiration date in 2000 or beyond. The store lost customers.

In November 1997, Dutch airli

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