Date: 12/31/99

Time: 11:59 p.m.

     The Year 2000 problem (Y2K) is a very serious threat to the US economy.  In fact, it is bound to disrupt the entire global economy.  Hopefully most computer systems will be fixed in time, but some important ones won't be ready.  Almost all older mainframe computer software systems, many PC's and software programs, and millions of embedded semiconductor chips potentially could crash on January 1, 2000 simply because the new year will appear as "00" in the standard two-digit year field and will be read as 1900.
     There are simple solutions to Y2K but the problem is time. All the money in the world will not stop January 1, 2000, from arriving at the rate of 3,600 seconds per hour.  There is not enough time to fix and test all the systems, with billions of lines of software code around the world, that need to be fixed.  Many businesses, governments, and organizations have become aware of the Y2K problem only recently and may simply run out of time. Most people don't believe Y2K is a serious problem.  People have a great deal of confidence in American ingenuity and believe that this is a recognized problem and it will be fixed in time.
     While the year 2000 problem is often stated as a singular problem, a look into the World Wide Web tells quite another story.  The number of problems and opportunities have continued to increase dramatically these past few years.  The search engines for the Internet are filled with sites that provide solutions, questions, or direct business contacts to begin work on a solution. As January 1, 2000 approaches, more and more attention will be given to the various ways that this dating problem will affect Information Technology. 

"Your head throbs as you roll out of bed.  It was quite a celebration last night and you've slept through your alarm clock.  You realize that the reason you slept through the alarm is because there is no electricity.  You pick up the phone  and there is no dial tone.  So you go to the bathroom to take a shower but when you turn the faucet on there is no hot water.  To make matters worse,  the refrigerator has stopped and the freezer is leaking water onto the floor.  Now you decide to go out and buy some things and as you leave you realize that you ran out of cash so you stop at the bank to get a few dollars but the machine eats your bank card and refuses to give you any cash at all.  Welcome to the new millennium. 

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          Created By:   Byron Scatliffe                        byrsca@hotmail.com
                                  Monica Putnam                       moeni60@hotmail.com                             
                                  Lizsolette Williams                 lizsolette@bigfoot.com
 
       
Contributors:  Godwin Odoh                          goboh@hotmail.com
                                  William Rivera                        alexi915@hotmail.com
                                  Evelyn  Griffin                        queen_91@hotmail.com
                                  Jody Garey                              marie750@ol.com
                                  Moises Aponte                        embrace69@hotmail.com

               
Mentor:   John F. McMullen                   johnmac@acm.org  ICQ: 4368412
                                     

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