Y2k: What Will Happen? Essay, Research Paper
As each day goes by we come just another day closer to January 1, 2000.Many people wonder what will happen. With just 500 hundred days remaining in the year 2000 the computer problem, “Y2K” is not yet solved. Many people have different views of what will happen to many computers once this century comes to an end. This computer glitch can cause many lives. It is a serious problem in which many people are worried about. For example, many health devices could shut down due to the Y2K problem. Kidney dialysis machines can malfunction as well as pacemakers. This problem can threaten the worlds financial markets, electrical grids, water supplies, and air traffic control systems. There is even a chance traffic lights will shut down. All of these problems could occur all because of one thing and that is “money.”In earlier days information storage costs were very expensive. Instead of using all four digits for the year programmers used two. By doing this it save a great deal of money. It might have saved a great amount of money but now this problem could cost the United States from 20 billion to 200 billion dollars. A little less than one third of hospitals have formal Y2K plans. According to Keith Ghezzi (Chief Operating Officer of Inova Fairfaz Hospital unless a hospital has started their Y2K plans years ago says its now too late to fix the problem
Here are just a few examples of what might happen when January 1, 2000 arrives. A telephone call that begins a little before midnight and proceeds to past midnight can be charged as a 99-year call. There is a chance that many ATM machines will refuse to give out money. Also a credit card bill that’s due on June 7, 2000 may be mistaken as being 99 years past due. Also blackouts could occur, coffee makers might not brew, and the American weapons system might not work. As one can see there are many mysteries to the Y2K problem. I myself cannot see any good things about this computer glitch. This problem is one that needs to be fixed.