The Milenium Bug....

X_Stickman · February 2004

<div class="IPBDescription">I know i'm late, but i have a question</div> What exactly was it meant to be? I was thinking about it last night (was watching the "da boom" episode of family guy) and i realised that all i knew about it was that all the computers were gonna do something and bad things would happen. Exactly what about the year 2000 was gonna harm computers?

LokeTheSleekPeruvian · February 2004

You mean the Y2K?

X_Stickman · February 2004

Yes (+1!!111 olo!). I know what it was supposed to do, but i have no idea how it was gonna do it.

Tequila · February 2004

When the clock struck midnight, January 1st, 2000, Neil Diamond was meant to be flying round the world in a giant glass teacup at supersonic speeds, serenading us with such hits as "Girl, You'll Be A Woman Soon". This, natch, would kill us or at the very least cause world-wide depression.
However, Neil was simply too tired to carry out the heinous deed, and we were saved. Phew.

LokeTheSleekPeruvian · February 2004

From what i heard, i think it was something about the date thingy DD/MM/YY going from year 99 to 00, so the computer would think something about the being back at 1900's or something like that.

I need some sleep.

BigMadSteve · February 2004

A lot of old programs used two digits to display the year instead of four. For example 99 would be displayed instead of 1999. When the year 2000 came those two digits would become 00 so the computer would think it's the year 1900 and all sorts of things would go wrong.

Some companies went over the top though. I saw a tin opener online that was Y2K compliant <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif' />

EDIT: Rofl, two people beat me to it.

LokeTheSleekPeruvian · February 2004

What do you mean by Y2K compliant?

BigMadSteve · February 2004

</div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Loke The Sleek Peruvian @ Feb 22 2004, 05:48 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> What do you mean by Y2K compliant?  </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> 
If a computer is Y2K compliant then it means it wouldn't mess up on the year 2000. However, a lot of companies weren't too sure of the full meaning so they just put "Y2K compliant" on all thier products so people would still buy them even though there is no chance they will be effected in the year 2000.

Dubers · February 2004

WHAT?!?! So let me get this straight.... your telling me we didn't go back to 1900? Man and I totally traded my car in for a horse and cart...

MonsieurEvil · February 2004

</div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Loke The Sleek Peruvian @ Feb 22 2004, 12:48 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> What do you mean by Y2K compliant?  </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> 
I have no idea how a can opener can be Y2K compliant. <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/nerd.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='nerd.gif' />

BigMad explained it pretty well. The problem was that database information would become completely inaccurate, automated systems with schedulers would fail, etc. I was consulting for a very large insurance company during the year before and part of the year after Y2K, and a guy sitting next to me had come out of retirement in Florida to make an ancient IBM RPG database work after 2000 - he had to get a copy of his compiler from a Reel-to-reel tape that IBM dug out of some warehouse where it had been dropped in the early 80's. He spent 6 months fixing the application (mainframe based), and if they had just let it try and run January 1, 2000, the main backend personal insurance information of about 1 million customers would have not been accesible. Nasty stuff...

BigMadSteve · February 2004

Well, at least you won't get stopped by a fuel crisis <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif' /> (that totally effed up Britain when it happened).

DarkATi · February 2004

Y2K was blown so far out of proportion. Companies selling Y2K "Life Rafts" / "Survival Kits" made an insane amount of money off of BS products, kind of like Bomb Shelters during the Cold War. It is true that since some computers operated on a two-digit year calendar that they could be affected but so many rumours like the power-grid failing, I really don't know what the eff Y2K ha to do with the power grid at all, I mean, most of it was just fear. (And fear spreads like wild fire)

I was at my Grandparents when 99 turned 00, it was awesome... anyway, Y2K was stupid, if our race/civilization is still here when 3000 rolls around it'd be fun to see if they get panicked like we did, lol.

~ DarkATi

UltimaGecko · February 2004

I think we'll be fine for the year 3000...except crazy fanatics that think an easily 1000 or 100 divisible year will somehow bring about the apocalypse. Despite the fact that we were probably off by 3-10 years with Jesus' birth, if you even believe in the Georgian (or whatever) Christian based calender. We should start planning for the year 10000 now...or else we'll have to change all our computers again!!!

Fear the Y10K bug!

Dubers · February 2004

Actually this reminds me, what happened to those freaks in america that went up into the hills and locked themselves in bunkers for the year 2000? Anyone go and tell them nothing happened?

LokeTheSleekPeruvian · February 2004

Lol no clue, i think i read somewhere that some people who escaped from WWII or Vietnam not sure, sailed to an unknown island to escape from the war, and Years later they were found , and they still thought the war was on.

Confuzor · February 2004

</div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Loke The Sleek Peruvian @ Feb 22 2004, 01:46 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> Lol no clue, i think i read somewhere that some people who escaped from WWII or Vietnam not sure, sailed to an unknown island to escape from the war, and Years later they were found , and they still thought the war was on.  </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> 
How about <a href='http://www.amiannoying.com/(mjnlzbufz401jn55nq1b3q45)/view.aspx?ID=3444' target='_blank'>Hiroo Onoda</a>

</div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'>Hiroo Onoda is the last Japanese Soldier to surrender from official duty during WW II <b>(1974)</b> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'>

By being "told" that the war was over, he was simply just bombed with pamphlets that the war had ended, which he dismissed as propaganda.

But 1974... incredible.

Fam · February 2004

Who knows about 2038 (January the 14th, or something) though ? When UNIX gets very confused about time stamps. <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif' />

BaconTheory · February 2004

I dunno...I think it was something about the mm/dd/yy going all awry and inadvertantly causing humanity's doom.

When I heard about all that **** I was like "Oh well **** happens."

MonsieurEvil · February 2004

And of course, the next big time bug is the <a href='http://computer.howstuffworks.com/question75.htm' target='_blank'>2038 Bug</a>. Y2038. <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif' />

As for those that scoff at how the bug was overblown, it was only 'overblown' because so many hard-working programmers and engineers and testers fought the problem for several years before it would have been a problem. I can say from personal experience that if Insurer I had been consulting for had ignored the issue, most of their mainframe and Unix backend apps and databases would have failed and thrown the company and their customers policies into chaos, and put them out of business. People calling to get their medical insurance payments for an upcoming operation do not want to hear 'uhhh, our database thinks it's 1900 and we can't access any of your info in our reports. Please call back in a few months when we have it all sorted out. Oh, and sorry for that automated bill you were sent for a 100-years worth of late payments, we'll try to get that $45,000,000 debt lifted off your credit report.'

<img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif' />

DarkATi · February 2004

</div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (MonsieurEvil @ Feb 22 2004, 07:44 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> And of course, the next big time bug is the <a href='http://computer.howstuffworks.com/question75.htm' target='_blank'>2038 Bug</a>. Y2038. <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif' />

As for those that scoff at how the bug was overblown, it was only 'overblown' because so many hard-working programmers and engineers and testers fought the problem for several years before it would have been a problem. I can say from personal experience that if Insurer I had been consulting for had ignored the issue, most of their mainframe and Unix backend apps and databases would have failed and thrown the company and their customers policies into chaos, and put them out of business. People calling to get their medical insurance payments for an upcoming operation do not want to hear 'uhhh, our database thinks it's 1900 and we can't access any of your info in our reports. Please call back in a few months when we have it all sorted out. Oh, and sorry for that automated bill you were sent for a 100-years worth of late payments, we'll try to get that $45,000,000 debt lifted off your credit report.'

<img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif' /> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'>
I didn't scoff...

I'm just saying, to some degree, I feel it was blown out of proportion. (Like people hiding in caves and stuff, isn't that overblown to you Monsieur? People killing themselves or waiting for the mother ship to come back for us all, lol.) Anyway, I'm not saying it wasn't a problem, I'm saying everyone freaked out and lots of companies made lots of money off of Y2K apps that didn't always do anything at all. (Like a program I bought that just had one .dll file and a text file, it told you where to stick it in your WINDOWS/System32 dir and that was it... turned out I had a later version then the one distributed in the "fix."

So, to say it again, I understand it was a real problem and I agree, if people like you spoke of Monsieur, hadn't updated their systems then all hell would have broken loose most likely but even after most people were done patching everything they could think to the media still felt the need to talk about how terrible it was gonna get, I don't think I saw but one or two stories on how things were being fixed to avoid it or about how things HAD been fixed to avoid it, it was all about "doomsday" LOL.

EDIT: About the Y2038 Bug, why not create a time.h library that holds time data in an insane amount of bytes? Like 16 Bytes, that would get you to a long time... (don't feel like doing the math right now) Anyway, I don't program so I don't really know what I'm talking about. <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif' />

~ DarkATi

LokeTheSleekPeruvian · February 2004

</div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Confuzor @ Feb 22 2004, 05:23 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> </div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Loke The Sleek Peruvian @ Feb 22 2004, 01:46 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> Lol no clue, i think i read somewhere that some people who escaped from WWII or Vietnam not sure, sailed to an unknown island to escape from the war, and Years later they were found , and they still thought the war was on. </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'>
How about <a href='http://www.amiannoying.com/(mjnlzbufz401jn55nq1b3q45)/view.aspx?ID=3444' target='_blank'>Hiroo Onoda</a>

</div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'>Hiroo Onoda is the last Japanese Soldier to surrender from official duty during WW II <b>(1974)</b> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'>

By being "told" that the war was over, he was simply just bombed with pamphlets that the war had ended, which he dismissed as propaganda.

But 1974... incredible.  </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> 
Thats the one, thanks.

SoulSkorpion · February 2004

</div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (DarkATi @ Feb 23 2004, 09:00 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> EDIT: About the Y2038 Bug, why not create a time.h library that holds time data in an insane amount of bytes? Like 16 Bytes, that would get you to a long time... (don't feel like doing the math right now) Anyway, I don't program so I don't really know what I'm talking about. <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif' />  </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> 
*chuckle* no, you don't <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif' />

ZiGGY · February 2004

Id just like to say "Chicken, gave me a lousy coupo..."

moultano · February 2004

</div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (DarkATi @ Feb 22 2004, 08:00 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> EDIT: About the Y2038 Bug, why not create a time.h library that holds time data in an insane amount of bytes? Like 16 Bytes, that would get you to a long time... (don't feel like doing the math right now) Anyway, I don't program so I don't really know what I'm talking about. <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif' />

~ DarkATi  </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> 
according to monse's article, you are right on the money.

</div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'>This problem is somewhat easier to fix than the Y2K problem on mainframes, fortunately. Well-written programs can simply be recompiled with a new version of the library that uses, for example, 8-byte values for the storage format. This is possible because the library encapsulates the whole time activity with its own time types and functions (unlike most mainframe programs, which did not standardize their date formats or calculations). So the Year 2038 problem should not be nearly as hard to fix as the Y2K problem was.</td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'>

The Milenium Bug....

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