Lauding the Y2K Hype

What a letdown. People were hunkering in bomb shelters, stocking up on canned food and cleaning out gun shops, but for what? When Jan. 1, 2000 rolled around, there wasn't much destruction as a result of the dreaded Y2K computer bug. A few minor glitches popped up here and there, like people in New York and Nebraska being charged over $90,000 for turning in rented videos late or the New York Times' automated phone system telling people that it was the Jan. 3, 1900 issue of the paper. Ironically, the homepage of the self-proclaimed "inventor of the Internet" Al Gore '69 displayed the date as Jan. 1, 19100.

Although the predictions that the world would end were about as accurate as Dionne Warwick's Psychic Friends Network, the precautionary efforts undertaken by companies and governments worldwide ensured that we can safely ring in the new year, the last year of the second millennium.

The United States alone spent $100 billion to remedy the Y2K problem, some of which was used to promote readiness in other parts of the world. The Pentagon's efforts to ensure safety in the Russian nuclear arsenal were especially welcome. The efforts of the government and the private sector resulted in massive overhauls and scrutiny of existing computer systems to guarantee that the year 2000 would not wreak havoc upon the world.

This money was not only insurance against Armageddon; it had secondary benefits for the companies and individuals involved in the effort. First, many companies' outdated computer systems were updated, enabling them to meet consumers' needs faster and more efficiently. Furthermore, the experience of finding dangers hidden in seemingly innocuous software has forced companies to examine their software for other bugs and regard their systems in a more critical light.

More importantly, we are finally seeing how the hard work and hype truly averted a serious problem. Now, Y2K-related errors are popping up in some more important computer systems. The Y2K consulting firm the Gartner Group reported that some of its clients had problems ranging from a computer that mixed up customer orders to a dentist's office that would not allow appointments to be made for the year 2000 and then crashed, destroying patients' records.

More seriously, kidney dialysis machines manufactured by the Swedish company Gambros would not run a necessary cleaning cycle in the year 2000. These bugs are just small hints about what could have happened if the world did not jump on this problem. Computer experts predict more errors to arise as the month progresses, but thanks to early intervention most critical government systems and major companies will be running business as usual.

While many now decry the media hype and billions of dollars spent on the Y2K bug when no major consequences have occurred, the early efforts were what prevented serious problems from occuring. We must remember that the precautions taken by government and industry enable us to sit here and complacently take everything for granted. So while the wood stoves slowly trickle back to the shelves of Home Depot and Sears, be thankful that you don't have to eat Vienna Sausages for dinner tonight.

DISSENT: Too Much Money, Too Late

U.S. actions regarding the Y2K crisis can hardly be seen as early or admirable. The U.S. did not fully address or acknowledge the problem until the latter part of the '90s--a good 20 years after the issue was first brought to light. As early as 1971, our nation's own official committee on data protocols was calling for a four-digit date standard in computers, rather than the two-digit standard that was commonplace at the time. To have tackled the problem then would have killed any Y2K worries forever.

However, such prescience was not to be. And so the world spent an estimated $600 billion to squash the bug that our great nation unleashed through its own programming ineptitude.

For those who like to keep count, that's $600 billion too much, too late. So why are we calling these efforts "precautions" when the problem was known to have existed long ago? Why are we lauding our government for spending even more money just to make sure its very own weaponry wouldn't accidentally launch? Why are we proud of the fact that many firms and even government institutions exposed themselves to security risks in their frantic race against the clock to fix the bug?

We shouldn't be patting our backs because we narrowly averted disaster; we should be screaming at ourselves for getting so close in the first place. Developed countries such as Italy spent far less than the U.S., and they did just fine. An Italian newspaper printed the apt headline, "The Bug Was a Dud; the Great Fear is Over; But Some Accuse: It Was a Bluff to Make Money."

If we truly believe that all of the money was well spent, and that action was taken quickly and efficiently, then perhaps we have a Y2K bug of our own. It's called gullibility.

--Robin S. Lee '03