Twenty-five years ago, the transition from 1999 to 2000 was followed with great anticipation. The so-called millennium bug caused a lot of commotion worldwide. Computer systems would not be prepared, with all that entails. According to doomsayers, satellites would fall from the sky, nuclear missiles would suddenly launch and hospital equipment would fail, but what really happened?
“Actually nothing at all,” says computer historian Bart van den Akker matter-of-factly. Bart runs the HomeComputerMuseum in Helmond. Here visitors can admire computers from all eras. “Nothing fell, nothing exploded. At midnight there was a kind of collective sigh of relief.”
According to Bart, a large number of computers from the 1990s had long been prepared for the transition to the new century. “Only the older computers were ‘affected’ by it, but that was also limited. For example, files had the wrong date when you saved them after the year 00.”
In the 1960s and 1970s, computers had limited memory, which meant that programs were developed that did not work with complete years, but only with the last two digits. That saved my memory. But it was unclear how they would respond to New Year’s Eve.
Made a lot of money
Yet the transition to the year 2000, also known as Y2K, has had concrete effects. According to Bart, a lot of money has been made from the panic. “Suddenly there were all kinds of companies offering to make computers ‘Y2K-proof’.” For example, chips were sold that in practice were not necessary at all. The producers made a lot of money from this, but according to Bart it was all ‘abuse of people’s ignorance’.
Bart recently spoke with a colleague who worked at such a company at the time. People could send in their computers in preparation for New Year’s Eve. “But then they did almost nothing with it,” says the computer expert. “They wrote down some information, put a sticker on it, and that was it.”
A ‘second’ millennium bug
Computers are now much more modern, but according to Bart there is a chance that a ‘second’ millennium bug will spread across the world. Things could get exciting in 2038, as that is the end time of the Unix operating system. Many computer systems are based on this and according to Bart, 2038 is the final number to which the system is currently bound.
“What will happen then is still unknown,” he says. “But I think there have already been a lot of adjustments.” According to Bart, more modern systems have already been adapted to this. The only question is what will happen to the older systems, but the expert expects that we have now learned from our mistakes: “I think that with the knowledge we have now, we will not experience the same chaos again.”
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