Their Computer Systems To Year 2000 Standards example essay topic

Computers have become the backbone of the world today. Is there a time bomb slowly ticking down inside of the computers that run everything from your laundry machine to Wall Street? 'The year 2000 bug is a flaw in the programming of embedded chips in most electronic devices' (Outsmarting 2). These chips only calculate the date in the ending 2 digits of the year. For instance, the date 1-1-1999 in the computer comes out 1-1-99. 'When the year 2000 comes around, the computers will think that it is the year 1900' (2).

Any program or system that relies on dates to perform certain functions, such as calculating ages, time periods, or payrolls is at risk of crashing on the stroke of midnight. Programmers in the 1970's were saving a lot of space in programming by only using the last 2 digits of the year. They had no insight into the problem they were creating by cutting this programming corner. The justification for cutting this corner was two fold. First, think of all of the coding and coding time they saved if the date is calculated over 1 million times in a single computation. Second, in those early years, disk storage space was at a premium and severely limited by today's standards.

It was important to make the best available use of storage space. For this reason that they entered only the last 2 digits of the year in the old programming. Because only date sensitive programming is at risk, however if or when the Y 2 K bug hits, the damage will be minimal at most. For those people who plan to move to the country and sell all of their possessions in order to get away from the effect, do not leave just yet. The year 2000 bug will not be the end of the world.

Many think that they will start a rural community and it will be their little Garden of Eden. If the year 2000 bug strikes, it will strike everything everywhere, even in rural Montana. The problems will be universal. People believe that they can rely on insurance to cover their assets are facing another problem created by the year 2000 bug. Insurance companies are calling all of their current clients informing them that their coverage does not include losses due to the year 2000 bug. However, lawyers and law firms are gearing up for what they believe will be a windfall, based on millennium bug claims Worldwide surveys show that companies are spending more of their information technology budget for correcting potential problems in their computer systems caused by the year 2000 bug.

Although 19% of the current information technology budget is spent towards correcting the year 2000 problem, it is expected to be increased to 23% by the second quarter of '99 (Weil 2). This may be too late to prevent many problems some say. Many businesses are either upgrading or have already upgraded their computer systems to year 2000 standards. Different fields of business are farther along the path to becoming year 2000 compliant. 'Banking is well prepared for the year 2000. There are a few industries such as, food service and some government branches, however, that are ill prepared for the year 2000' (2).

Sleep safely at night, knowing that your money is safe in the current banking systems. Even though the government and some food service companies are behind on updating for the year 2000, they are working around the clock to achieve year 2000 compliance before the New Year strikes. If the government fails to upgrade to the year 2000, they will have a secondary plan. People vote certain officials into office in order to handle specific problems such as the year 2000 bug. Worried about what the year 2000 bug will do to the United States? Cling to one comforting thought, 'Things will be worse just about everywhere else in the world' (McMahon 1).

Studies show the United States among the most highly prepared countries in the world. 'As far as the world is concerned, many countries are not as prepared as the United States' (Weil 1). With the U.S. the most prepared countries include, Australia, Britain, Canada, Germany, Switzerland, and Sweden. The least prepared countries include major names such as Afghanistan, China, Pakistan, Romania, and Russia. Many fear that nuclear power plants in Russia may be at risk.

Do we still remember Chernobyl? The good news is that no one believes that the Y 2 K glitch will accidentally launch an attack of nuclear missiles. In our global economy, setbacks to financial institutions from Asia to Africa to South America can affect the U.S. economy and Americans, in many unforeseeable ways. They are all very important pieces of our economic system.

If these countries go under, we might have another economic disaster like the stock market crash of 1929. The government has placed many safeties in order to protect the people's money and there is a general assumption that with the government, big business in the most important industries is making a substantial effort to protect U.S. interest abroad. With the year 2000 approaching many possible problems may arise. Luckily for us in Chicago, New Zealand will be among the first to celebrate the Year 2000. At that time it will be 6 AM December 31, in Chicago.

This gives us 18 hours to learn to some extent what the problems will be. All of these problems depend on a couple of factors. 'The problems that the year 2000 may cause all depend upon the readiness of the people that are possibly affected by it' (Outsmarting 3). By the time New Years comes everything will be in order and ready for the change of the millennium, and the problems caused by this flaw in early programming will be minimal.

Bibliography

Ferrara, Matthew. 'Outsmarting the Y 2 K Bug. ' 14 Aug 1998.
Online. Internet. 8 Mar 1999.
McMahon, Colin and Goering, Laurie. 'Many nations are unwilling or unable to fix possible computer woes, leaving U.S. in peril. Chicago Tribune 21 March 1999: 1.
Weil, Nancy. 'Y 2 K survey finds wide spread disruptions likely. ' 6 Aug 1998.
Online Internet. 8 March 1999.