Millennium bug! Suddenly I remembered! Exactly 20 years ago, this extraordinary event took place. Exactly 20 years ago, the world held its breath fearing the impending global catastrophe! I completely erased this event from my head for many years, and then suddenly at the end of 2019, memories returned. Just in time. So let's recall what we were afraid of two decades ago.
I wonder how many people who read my blog still remember the worldwide hysteria that took place at the end of 1999. Of course, I mean those older readers who are able to remember the events of the end of the last century. For younger readers, and also for those with weaker memories, I am in a hurry to remind myself.
Millennium bug - Problem of the year 2000
The Millennial Bedbug was a certain - let's call it - computer problem that was about to appear in the advent of 2000. In the West, the bug was better known by the acronym Y2K (2000 problem) - the problem of the year 2000. What was the problem? Well, in the most general terms, it was about recording the date in computers. In the past, for savings, older programs used an abbreviated notation of the year consisting of only two digits, e.g. 1999 was written as 99. Also, newer software used the same notation for compatibility with older versions. This caused some problems when changing the date to 2000. Then 2000 will be written as 00, same as 1900. And that was supposed to mislead computers with the advent of the new year. A serious global failure of computer systems was aired. Various scenarios were envisaged, ranging from power supply problems, through broken telephones, airports, to truly apocalyptic visions - planes falling to the ground, exploding nuclear power plants or accidentally fired missiles with nuclear warheads. Even the cows were to stop giving milk. In a word, January 1, 2000 was going to be very interesting.
In 1999, the topic was picked up by the media around the world, driving a spiral of fear. In Poland, too, the media and society were excited about the millennium bug. From the general hype in the mass media, the average audience could conclude that by January 1, all computers will reset, returning humanity to the pre-industrial era. During the global hysteria, IT companies scanned the business by introducing updates to their software to protect computers from the effects of bedbugs. As ridiculous as this problem seems to be today, remember that back then people were much less knowledgeable about computers than they do today. In the West, the matter seemed so serious that the President of the United States appointed a special council to monitor and mitigate the potential effects of the millennium bug.
In 1999, I was 13 years old. I attended the first year of junior high school. Hardly anyone at school had a computer, two or three in the classroom. IT was only timidly entering school subjects. Of those who had a computer, only a few had access to the Internet. Hardly anyone knew what it was and what it was eaten with. The main source of information was television and the press. There were no cell phones, I meant they were, but who had them? The richest. I didn't know anyone. There were no communicators, no social media, no web 2.0 inventions that surround us today. The web was just crawling. Even then, we felt dependent on computers in some way. Even then, the problem of the year 2000 was noticed in backward and poorly computerized Poland.
December 31, 1999
On December 31, everyone held their breath. Thousands of employees responsible for the functioning of computer systems stayed at work instead of playing on New Year's Eve to monitor the situation on an ongoing basis. In Poland, the situation was also monitored by crisis staffs. While the Millennial bug was often viewed as a journalistic duck, there was a shadow of a chance that something bad could happen.
January 1, 2000
January 1st came. And nothing. With the stroke of midnight, nothing happened. The world breathed a sigh of relief. Apart from minor incidents that happened in different parts of the world, nothing significant happened. There was no global failure, no computer apocalypse. Was the Millennial bug a real threat at all? Or maybe many months of preparations saved us from its effects? It is not for me to judge. In any case, the Millennial bug went down in history as the first "end of the world" we miraculously survived.
Here is what was said about the bug in the Polish news broadcast on January 1, 2000.