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25th Anniversary of the Disaster that Didn’t Happen

Chowderhead
@Podunk
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Twenty-five years ago today, we were all holding our breath. The world was certain to end: planes falling out of the sky, water systems stopping, machines blowing up. Yes, that pesky Y2K bug.

My dad had this globe.

I was a young engineering manager at the time, working for a small equipment manufacturer. I was in complete amazement at the mass stupidity and how the scare spread like a virus. Obviously, once we got the real virus, this effect was a hundred times greater.

I had printed and saved the best threatening letters but somehow lost them over the years. The best ones were from customers with machines long out of warranty. I remember one from a law firm threatening to sue if I don’t provide certification that the machine wouldn’t crash at midnight. I called back and told them it’s out of warranty. You’re on your own.

Some databases would be affected but the mass hysteria wasn’t warranted. Especially since most of my programs didn’t even use dates.

Beware! The threat is still out there. Today is 12/29/2024. This is just as inaccurate as the Y2K problem.

Is it 12/29/2024 AD or 12/29/2024 BC?

This post was promoted to the Main Feed at the recommendation of Ricochet's members.

Discussion (75)

  • Muleskinner, Weasel Wrangler@Muleskinner

    I maintain that Y2K did precipitate the 2001 recession, which brought us Bill Clinton, et al. It was a garden-variety recession (compared to 2008-09) that started in March 2001 and ended December 2001, but not officially recognized until much later, so its cause was conflated in the public’s mind with September 11. All the investment that occurred in 1998-99 getting ready for 2000, and the Fed’s decision to make lots of cash available in case there was a run on ATMs, then pump it back out of the economy set the stage for a slowdown in 2001. “Solve” one problem, create another.

  • Chris B@ChrisB

    It always baffled me that so many people never thought of performing the simple test that I had done on my own home computer in January of 1999: adjust the date forward to 23:59 12/31/1999 and just let the clock roll over early to see what it would do.

    When nothing happened and everything worked as it should my 13 year old self was sorely disappointed. I spent the remainder of the year in deep skepticism of the Y2K bug news, and was not at all surprised when nothing happened on New Year’s Day.

    Come to think of it, that was pretty foundational to my reaction two decades later to the panic about COVID-19. I pretty much started out furious that I had to cancel my honeymoon in Northern Italy over a nothing-burger that the government and media where trying to make into the next Y2K, and my opinion of it all went down-hill from there.

  • Chowderhead@Podunk
    ReplyingtoChris B

    Chris B (View Comment):

    Come to think of it, that was pretty foundational to my reaction two decades later to the panic about COVID-19. I pretty much started out furious that I had to cancel my honeymoon in Northern Italy over a nothing-burger that the government and media where trying to make into the next Y2K, and my opinion of it all went down-hill from there.

    At the time I was enjoying it as a sort-of social experiment. Maybe this was in preparation for the up and coming Chinese virus. There are a lot of similarities if you think about it.

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