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.