From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The
Year 2000 problem
(also known as the
Y2K problem
, the
millennium bug
,
Y2K Bug
, and
Y2K
) was a computer problem that affected lots of computer systems. It happened because of the way in which some early
computer programs
were made to handle only years containing two digits (for example '92 instead of 1992). This meant that the computer could confuse the year 2000 with the year 1900, because both would be written as 00. People started fearing that date-related processing would happen incorrectly for dates and times after
December 31
1999
. It caused concerns that many
industries
(such as
electricity
or
financial
) and
government
functions would stop working at exactly
midnight
,
January 1
2000
. People were panicked by press coverage and media speculation, as well as corporate and government reports. Companies and organisations around the world had to check and upgrade their computer systems to avoid the bug. The preparation for Y2K had a significant effect on the computer industry. No big computer failures occurred when the year changed to 2000.