Is today the day the doomsayers have their picnic?

1999-09-08

9-9-99. The six character string used by mainframe programmers tens of years ago to signify “end of file” is sending shivers down the spines of the same people today. Oh yes, I wrote a few of those programs, they say, dispelling any thoughts that this might be an overhyped media myth. As with the big Y, nobody has been able to predict with certainty what the effects of the 9-9-99 problem will be. Today, the waiting is over.

Certainly the issue is being taken seriously from some quarters. According to \link{http:\\www.silicon.com,Silicon.com} for example, the UK coastguard has chartered extra tugs to bale out ships whose ageing navigational systems are caught short.

As industry watchers, we shall be following today’s events with interest, not only because they will be of concern in themselves. The realities of the 9-9-99 problem are the best thing we have to predict the events at the end of the year. We are sceptical that nothing will go wrong, indeed we are amongst the more pessimistic observers. Today’s events will enable us to gauge what might go wrong, what the impacts might be and what needs to happen to resolve the effects. Like a fish-eye lens, Y2K will be a distorted amplification of today’s events, large or small. Lets just hope they are small.

(First published 8 September 1999)