Y2K a Mere Memory Now

N E W   Y O R K, Dec. 26, 2000 -- The nation’s Year 2000 czar is now a deputymayor in Washington, D.C. The $50 million Y2K crisis center housesGeorge W. Bush’s transition team. The international Y2K coordinatorplans to relax with friends this New Year’s Eve.

A year after the turn-of-the-millennium computer scare, it’sjust a fading memory for most people. But leading figures in theY2K consciousness-raising effort say the episode taught importantand enduring lessons.

“It showed that we can, if we put the resources to it, solvetough global problems of our making,” said Bruce McConnell, whodirected the international Y2K effort. “It was a great story ofcooperation and hard work. It was expensive, but it wassuccessful.”

For those quick to forget, Y2K was caused by decisions bycomputer makers decades ago to use two digits to represent theyear. The shortcut saved money on memory and storage, but alsocaused some computers to wrongly interpret 2000 as 1900.

Left uncorrected, the Y2K glitch could have fouled computersthat control power grids, air traffic, banking systems and phonenetworks.

Billions Spent on Prevention

Businesses and governments around the world threw some $200billion at the problem — and then they watched nervously, hopingenough of the errant dates had been fixed to avert a worldwidedisaster.

For the most part they had. The lights didn’t go out. Planesdidn’t fall out of the sky. Nuclear missiles didn’t launch in themiddle of the night.

Because few problems materialized, those who had sounded the Y2Kalarm had to fend off criticism from people who believed they werevictims of a big-money bamboozle.

“It’s like saying to a surgeon after he conducts a majorintrusive operation that because the patient’s fine, it’s not a bigdeal,” said Harris Miller, president of the Information TechnologyAssociation of America. “Problems did occur, and the fact that itwas so minimal means that people did a good job.”

Among the failures: Computers that process images from U.S. spysatellites broke down. Some credit cards charged for the same itemsmultiple times. Japanese nuclear power plants experienced glitches— among them, a failed clock on a reactor monitoring system — butno radiation leaks or safety problems.

Many more failures may have gone unreported. Leon Kappelman, aUniversity of North Texas professor who helped businesses with Y2Kassessments, says a major telecommunications company — which hewould not identify — experienced 100 Y2K errors during the firstweek of 2000.

Those problems were quickly fixed, he says, and customers nevernoticed.

As a Y2K windfall, businesses and governments got bettercomputers and other equipment. With the help of the World Bank andother Y2K funders, poorer countries got machines and Internetconnections they were allowed to keep.

Many U.S. businesses weeded out older machines, combinedredundant systems and did something they’d never done before:inventoried their software and computers. Individuals, businessesand countries learned to work together. Within companies,technologists talked with executives, often for the first time.

Greater Understanding Gained

Mark Haselkorn, a professor of technical communications at theUniversity of Washington, says previously technophobic managers gotto see their organizations as dynamic ecosystems and betterunderstand information systems.

For example, supervisors at International Paper Co.’s mill inFranklin, Va., last summer used their Y2K surveys to quickly locatedefective circuit boards throughout the plant after a supplierwarned of problems.

“There was a heightened awareness of people’s perspectives, ofpeople looking beyond just what was happening to them or theirparticular group, which was a big change,” said Stephen Schaefgen,who headed International Paper’s Y2K efforts.

At the international level, Y2K planners channeled theirenergies into improving access to technology and defending networksfrom security threats. Those planners still regularly communicateby e-mail and telephone.

The world discovered that while society has become dependent onmachines, people are still in charge.

“There’s nothing better than human capital,” said John Hall, aspokesman with the American Bankers Association. “I think peoplegained an appreciation for technology and the people who make thattechnology possible.”

Sen. Robert Bennett, the Utah Republican who headed the Senate’sY2K advisory committee, says the world also discovered the extentto which computers are interconnected.

Another reminder came in May, when the “I Love You” computervirus crippled systems worldwide and caused tens of millions ofdollars in damages.

When his Y2K team dismantled in March, Bennett formed a workinggroup in the Senate to address terrorism and other network securitythreats.

“What happens to us if someone comes at the United States in avery aggressive way?” he asked.

Many companies and governments simply applied software bandagesto address Y2K, noted Dale Way, the Y2K point person with theInstitute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.

A common fix involved tricking computers into thinking thecentury rollover occurs 30 years or so from now; so more fixes willbe needed within 30 years.

“We dodged a bullet,” Way said. “But lasting fixes will notbe easy to implement. ... When you look at this infrastructure, itis highly uncertain and it breaks all the time.”

A year ago, Y2K planners urged individuals to have extra food,water and flashlight batteries on hand — though they discouragedoverstocking. Meanwhile, Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspansought to calm public fears even while increasing the money supply.

Companies set up command centers, canceled vacations, and thenheld their collective breath and watched the clocks.

Another Y2K date is coming on Dec. 31 for computers thatcalculate dates strictly on the basis of a 365-day calendar.Because 2000 is a leap year, Dec. 31 is Day 366. Major problems,however, are not expected.

Y2K contingency teams have disbanded, their personnel moving onto other tasks.

John Koskinen, who spent two years directing Y2K planning in theUnited States, took a job in September as the District ofColumbia’s chief administrator.

The U.S. Information Coordination Center — where Koskinen andhis staff prepared for the dawn of 2000 — closed in March. The90,000-square-foot space is now being used by the Bush presidentialtransition team.

Cathy Hotka, who worked on the National Retail Federation’s Y2Kefforts, has a bottle of New Year’s Eve champagne in herrefrigerator.

“I’m going to drink like a fish,” she said. “I couldn’t doanything last year.”

Likewise, McConnell of the now-defunct International Y2KCooperation Center will be “reminiscing fondly over our successand grateful I don’t have to work this year.”

Anticipating the worst last year, many people bought generatorsand laid in extra provisions. Some even built special shelters andtook refuge in the countryside.

About 20 families who headed for the hills of Floyd County, Va.,remain there a year later. Some went into debt to buy severalyears’ worth of water, dehydrated foods and kerosene lanterns.

Some Still Suspicious

Howard King, who left his job in Baltimore to join the Rivendellcommunity, plans to stay there for the long haul, his deep distrustof technology unsubsided.

“Now that we’ve moved here, we are more convinced that theChristian lifestyle in the modern world requires us to live witheach other,” he said.

In Hudson, Wis., Dennis Olson bought 400 boxes of HamburgerHelper, 175 pounds of pasta and nine tubes of toothpaste, alongwith drinking water and a power generator.

He has donated much of the food to charity, but still has abouttwo months’ worth of stocks left. He’ll keep the first-aid suppliesin case of tornadoes or other disasters.

Olson says he has no regrets about spending $20,000 to stockpilefor Y2K.

“It’s only money, and you can always make more, but a boatwould have been fun,” he said. “You have to look at itsatirically. It was a serious issue in its time, but it’s behind usnow.”