Y2K has come and passed. And we are still here. Did we learn anything?
The "Y2K Problem" has gone from a few lone voices crying in the wilderness only a some three of four years ago who saw ahead - very correctly - that there are potentially some serious problems in the information systems that support large segments of our society. Namely, the fact that the timekeeping logic in most personal computers would not correctly make the transistion fro December 31, 1999 to January 1, 2000. And if corrections are not made, there could be some very serious breakdowns in a lot of areas.
There was also the very correct recognition that there are some hidden details in much of the electronics based equipment that is beginning to be prevalent in our homes, and businesses that most people don't see that could also have trouble making the millenium transistion. Namely the embedded devices that are buried in our alarm clocks, VCR's, television sets, and most importantly, critical services such as medical equipments.
Consider a local medical facility's statement of preparations for Y2K and in general providing comprehensive medical service no matter the situation -
See some reflections on one person's experiences at Y2k remediation efforts. -
For a whimsical look at the tasks ahead of us, see -
And yes, here are some examples of the blunders that got past all the remedial efforts -
Select "Screen Shots" for screen images of a wide variety of date problems.
Select "Parodies/Pranks" for some more of the humor generated by Y2K.