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Y2K seems like a joke now, but in 1999 people were really freaking out

Y2K seems like a joke now, but in 1999 people were really freaking out

In December 1999, the world was bracing for the impending global crisis known as Y2K. It all stemmed from a seemingly minor software glitch: many older computer programs encoded dates using only two digits for the date. ‘year. At midnight on December 31, a misinterpretation of “00” in the year 2000 could cause widespread errors leading to mass panic.

The Clinton administration declared that preparing the United States for the year 2000 was probably “the greatest technology management challenge in history.” The bug threatened a cascade of potential disruptions – power outages, medical equipment failures, bank closures, a sudden halt to travel – if the systems and software that helped run society no longer knew what year we were in. were.

These fears gave rise to another anxiety-provoking acronym: TEOTWAWKI – “the end of the world as we know it”. Fortunately, the so-called “Y2K problem” did not live up to the hype.

NPR covered Y2K preparations for several years leading up to the new millennium. Here’s a look at how people coped, as told to NPR Network reporters.

Infrastructure systems prepare for the worst

Paloma O’Riley, a computer scientist and grassroots organizer, compared the scale and urgency of Y2K preparedness to asking someone to change a rivet on the Golden Gate Bridge. Changing a single rivet is simple, but “if you suddenly tell this person that they now have to change all the rivets on the bridge and they only have 24 hours to do it, that’s a problem,” said O’Riley to reporter Jason. Beaubien in 1998.

So why wasn’t America’s infrastructure ready in the first place? Stephanie Moore, then a principal analyst at Giga Information Group, told NPR that this came from a data efficiency measure dating back to the expensive early days of computers: formatting years using two digits instead of four, most computers interpreting “00” as the year 1900. .

“Now when we get to the year 2000, computers — instead of thinking it’s 2001 — will think it’s 1901,” Moore said, adding that the year 2000 would have been avoidable “if we had used four-digit years from start.”

On January 22, 1999, IBM Japan systems engineers converted the computer software of their clients, including banks and local governments, to protect them against the potentially destructive “millennium bug.”

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Toru Yamanaka

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AFP via Getty Images

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The date change shook a number of vital technologies, including Wall Street trading systems, power plants and tools used in air traffic control. The Federal Aviation Administration subjected its systems to stress tests and simulated scenarios as the year 2000 approached.

“Twenty-three million lines of code in the air traffic control system seemed a little more daunting to me, I will say, than I probably expected,” FAA Administrator Jane Garvey said. to NPR in 1998. Ultimately, there were no system-wide aviation outages, but airlines were put on alert for the year 2000.

The need to protect these systems served as a reminder that the technology that underpins people’s daily lives is interdependent and constantly evolving.

“People forget that it took 300 to 500 years to build the infrastructure for the Industrial Revolution,” Mark Haselkorn, an engineering professor at the University of Washington, said at the time. “And we’ve been building the infrastructure for the information age for about 50 years, so it’s not surprising that we’re having problems.”

People are ready to “get away”

A mobile home; a year’s supply of dehydrated food; a propane generator — these are just some of the precautionary purchases California computer programmer Scott Olmstead made before 2000. (He also said he was buying a handgun.)

If the year 2000 triggered a food shortage, or a power grid failure, or even a spike in crime, Olmstead told NPR he would be ready: “Whatever it is, if we want to escape, as programmers say, we can do it. . We have somewhere to go. He added that he could withdraw his money from the bank and convert it into gold, silver and cash.

As concerned citizens pondered a panic-proof wealth strategy, Brian Roby, vice president of First National Bank in Olathe, Kan., told NPR that his institution would be ready to welcome customers on New Year’s Day rather than taking a vacation.

“We thought about it and said, ‘Hey, if we’re ready, we’re ready. Let’s prove it. Let’s be the first to be open,'” Roby said. “And we’re just going to open like it’s any other normal Saturday.”

Some financial analysts remained skeptical that the year 2000 would arrive and depart with minimal disruption. But in November 1999, the Federal Reserve expressed confidence in the ability of the American economy to weather this major change.

“Federal banking agencies have been visited and inspected. Every bank in the United States, which probably includes 9,000 to 10,000 institutions, received a satisfactory rating of more than 99%,” Fed Governor Edward Edward said at the time. Kelley.

Neighbors grouped together

Dozens of communities across the United States have formed Y2K preparedness groups to avoid unnecessary panic. Kathy Garcia, an organizer with the Y2K Community Project in Boulder, Colorado, said fears of societal collapse provide an opportunity to take stock.

“How can we help each other, not when a disaster strikes, but before it?” Garcia told NPR’s Margot Adler in 1999.

His project was housed in a storefront at the Boulder Mall, offering educational videos about Y2K and exhibits on food storage. Local resident Richard Dash stopped by and urged people to think of their neighbors, not just themselves.

“Do you want to be the only house with lights and the only house that smells of food? Do you really want to turn into a bunker?” he said.

Dash added that he hoped nothing would come of Y2K except a renewed sense that he could count on his community in an emergency, and that they could count on him, too. Instead of hoarding excess food, he said, people could come together and share it.

“We’re all going to have a picnic,” he said. “We’ll donate extra food to FoodShare, and no one will go hungry for a while. And it’ll be just awesome.”

Squashing the Y2K bug

Ultimately, the worst fears lay in the anticipation. Besides some minor setbacks like slow internet and reports of faulty clocks, the aggressive planning and recalibration paid off. Humanity got through the year 2000 without chaos.

“I’m pleasantly surprised,” John Koskinen, chairman of the President’s Council on Year 2000 Conversion, told NPR. Weekend Edition on January 1, 2000. “We expected to see more difficulties from the start, especially around the world.”

People like Jack Pentes of Charlotte, North Carolina, had to decide what to do with their emergency supplies. Pentes had filled 50 large soda bottles with tap water. “I used half a dozen in the washing machine,” he told NPR. “I can’t bear to empty it and throw it away. There are too many people in the world who don’t have access to decent water.”

Food writer Michael Stern, meanwhile, came up with a chili recipe for people with leftover canned food, namely Spam.

“One of its charms is that it doesn’t decompose,” Stern said. “No matter how long you cook it, it will always retain its spam identity.”

Others couldn’t shake the instinct to plan ahead. Alfred Lubrano, essayist for The Philadelphia Inquirerwrote a letter included in a time capsule that will be opened for “Y3K” – the year 3000. Lubrano’s letter, which he read on NPR, ended with a question to anyone who might find it in the next millennium .

“We are human, like you – imperfect like you, honest like you,” Lubrano wrote. “We have not yet understood this world, this life. And you?”

Original reporting by NPR’s Jason Beaubien, Ira Flatow, Steve Inskeep, Mary Ann Akers, Jack Speer, Larry Abramson, Margot Adler and Bob Edwards.

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