How We Beat the Y2K Bug

About this episode

The episode discusses how the Y2K bug was effectively managed, leading to a non-event on January 1, 2000.

The Y2K bug turned out to be a non-event on January 1, 2000. How did that happen? Carl and Richard bring together a number of stories from folks who were there, fixing the software and updating systems, so effectively that, ultimately, nothing much happened when the clocks rolled over. It was common practice with early software to only store two digits worth of year - back then, storage space was at a premium. For years, there had been warnings about fixing these problems, but by 1999, it was essential. These are the stories of how some folks did those fixes so effectively that when Jan 1 2000, came around, nothing bad happened.

People in this episode

Hosts: Carl Franklin, Richard Campbell

Topics covered

• Y2K bug
• software fixes
• technology history
• system updates
• non-event

Keywords

• Y2K
• software
• technology
• system updates
• January 1, 2000
• fixes
• storage space

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