Y2K made major headlines in 1999. That the entire computer network would crash or something.
Comment on What was the internet like before Y2K happened ?
A_norny_mousse@piefed.zip 2 months ago
[deleted]
LoveEspresso@cafe.coffee-break.cc 2 months ago
ripcord@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Computers were going to crash. The ones most at risk potentially didn’t talk to the Internet (but ran core systems, including core banking, airline, defense, etc systems). Fortunately - except very very few cases - they were all fixed before y2k. Since it was an incredibly well-publicized, fixable problem that everyone mobilized on.
The much bigger impact to the nascient Internet was the dot com bubble burst not too long after. Then what REALLY changed things was smartphones.
DomeGuy@lemmy.world 2 months ago
It wasn’t that computers would crash. Its that they might treat midnight Jan 1 as a hundred years before almist-midnight Dec 31, instead of one minute later.
Really critical things like airplanes would probably be OK, but your savings account would suddenly be drained thanks to 100 years of negative interest, while your credit card would sudddy go from owing $1000 to having $60,000 in available credit.
Y2K, if no one had done anything, might have ended capitalism. Assong that there were no nuclear launch systems with a date-based “don’t shoot” dead-king switch.
ripcord@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Some might crash. We absolutely fixed bugs like that.
There were lots and lots of failure modes.
A_norny_mousse@piefed.zip 2 months ago
[deleted]LoveEspresso@cafe.coffee-break.cc 2 months ago
Nothing. Life continued as it is. I was preparing for my 10th boards then.
Skullgrid@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Because programmers busted their ass making it work
False@lemmy.world 2 months ago
It’s shorthand for the year 2000. Which did in fact happen