Everything You Wanted to Know About Y2K but Were Afraid to Ask

The turn of the calendar from 1999 into the year 2000 was cause for celebration but also cause for concern--at least the media made sure it was hyped that way! Would the Y2K computer bug at the turn of the millennium cause the end of the world as we knew it? Most of us didn't want to believe it was possible, but we stocked up on cases of water and partied like no one's business on New Year's Eve just to make sure!
As the millennium approached, the Y2K bug made many people nervous! Early computer programs often used two-digit dates to designate the year to save memory and storage, which were expensive. People worried that this "bug" would trigger computer system errors--causing crucial infrastructures like utilities to fail as midnight hit. People stockpiled on emergency food and bottled water “just in case.”
Lots of companies tried to cash in on the fervor surrounding the year 2000. The Mars candy company started early, promoting its M&M's as "The Official Candy of the New Millennium" by 1998. And Microsoft sold Year 2000 resource CDs for people to prepare their computers for Y2K.
But like any holiday, people still had parties, and they still wore silly hats, weird glasses, and sparkly clothing. What happened when the countdown came? Nothing! 20 years later, we laugh about the non-event that Y2K turned out to be. Here at The Henry Ford, we have collections that document “the battle of the bug,” and the leadup to the day the world didn’t end.
Happy 20th anniversary Y2K.
Like, share, and subscribe!
Check out our Y2K expert set curated by our staff at The Henry Ford to learn more about our Y2K collection www.thehenryford.org/collecti...
#thehenryford

[@Kevinb1821]

I remember the news was more worried about the first person born in the new millennium than the y2k bug.

[@peace_4485]

I am 00 liner

[@krystallovesclassics508]

I was 14 our parents gave us sparkling apple juice and told us since it was the end of the world they would let us have some champagne. We should have known it was a joke because our parents didn't even believe in Y2K.

[@kevindube7096]

That box of Millenio’s might be the last remaining souvenir from Y2K stockpiling and it does indeed belong in a museum

[@PaolaZeno]

Here because Shane posted to look up what Y2K means 🙃

[@nyftyy]

Same here :)

[@amyzacarias6675]

Me too

[@lilyg6950]

same :)

[@lordst8155]

Haha same

[@ruryryryry8909]

This music sounds like everything was fine

[@sinlokemp]

I was 15 and was at my grandfather's house staying up all night anxiously waiting for the end days! It was a traumatic night 😅.

[@bob_._.]

A lot of old programmers got to come out of retirement for a couple years to help update programs and databases. Luckily I was working with UNIX systems running compliant software, but UNIX, Linux and to some extent Apple systems will have their own date issue in 2038.

[@financier57]

Sounds interesting. What kind of issues?

[@bob_._.]

@@financier57 UNIX date rolls back to 0, so may be system issues more than application.

[@marichilders9712]

The fact I lived through this but I was only 7 so I didn’t really care. I was concerned but didn’t really understand enough to care like a lot of other people.

[@1rusakko]

Taratown sent me here

[@slatergator3465]

here cuz of Y2J

[@youboy3232]

I have a cross with with y2k compliant what dose that mean ??

[@mickroyster6442]

If it’s a computer that just means it was ready to update to the 21st century

[@p1zzaman]

Does anyone know why nothing actually happened? Did the old code already handle this condition?

[@TurningKhan]

While news were spreading horrors and people were in panic, new and old programmers worked in the background to update the old code and allow it to handle 4 digits instead of 2(aka the original issue). Then newer chips with 32 bit architectures came out that solved that even more, and now we have 64 bit chips, Y2K is far from being a problem anymore.

[@erikmolnar6585]

Everything 32 bit will be broken by then anyway

[@adrikatzin7866]

here cuz of Y2C

[@tigerwintercrystal7114]

I was 16 and literally disappointed that nothing happen 😂

[@jun_suzuki42]

So the next similar bug I am expecting will be on the year 2999. Stay tune. I hope to watch this video again during 2999 =)

[@GrapeCheckerBoard]

You’ll need to wait until the year 10000. Modern computer chips measure years in four digits.

[@liamemond160]

@@GrapeCheckerBoard Nope it's year 2038 for 32-bit systems. Not a big issue but systems hard coded in 32-bit, if they still run in 2038, will not work.

[@cradleofalex]

new century? LMFAO

[@jaquanmiller2584]

the millennium was 2001

[@betterthanemril988]

Yes but a lot of people don’t realize that we never had a year zero

[@ThatOneOddGuy]

What is Y2K
I'm 16

[@betterthanemril988]

I’m a little older than you so I kind a remember it but I don’t also it means year 2000. There was concern over the computers registering the date as the start of the old millennium therefore malfunctioning and breaking down and causing whole bunch of domino effect serve being shutting down

[@ThatOneOddGuy]

@@betterthanemril988 oh yeah I remember searching this up, people hyped up shit and then learnt their lesson.....
For some reason ur reply looked like an amgry for the first 1 line,
Boi have I seen many annoying people from twitter and kids on yt,
But you m8 sure as hell ain't one of em

[@TurningKhan]

A while back when computers were too new a machine could only handle 2 digits for dates; this is due to limitation and budget compromises. The problem of Y2K is that since a computer could only read dates in a 00/00/00 -> DD/MM/YY (ex. 20/10/98) format it would revert to the year 00 after 1999 because 01/01/2000 would be read as 01/01/00 instead. Locally this was fixed by just allowing the code to handle 4 digits and not just 2, making it to store dates in a DD/MM/YYYY (ex. 01/01/2000) format.

[@maureennjerin.5552]

Isn't what the video explains

[@kingofkings69ner]

Big Hoax