Why there is a problem

Back in the 1980`s, when data storage was more difficult, and more expensive, than it is nowadays, programmers reduced data storage requirements by omitting information that appeared to be unneccessary.

One of the bits of information often omitted was the number of the century when writing dates, so, for example, the date 10th January 1984 would be written as 10.01.84, or in the USA, as 01.10.84.

This arrangement has been fine up to now, as in most cases, it could be correctly assumed by both the computer and by the user that the year was actually 1984, rather than 1884 or 2084.

However as time progresses towards the twenty first century, it is now no longer possible to assume the century - a year shown as 10 might be 1910 or 2010.

It is important to realise that the problem - the so called Millenium Bug - is not just some event that is going to happen on the stroke of midnight on the 31st December 1999, and that the world is suddenly going to fall apart at that instant.

The problem exists now, and is already causing confusion with dates.

If a financial budget sheet is being prepared for the year 6th. April 1999 - 5th April 2000, then there is scope for confusion, as the computer sees these dates as 6th. April 99 - 5th. April 00; it therefore assumes the dates actually mean 6th. April 1999 - 5th. April 1900, and can have a fit of aploplexy.

Having said that, in order to avoid confusion, it is worth pointing out that a computer will only be unable to cope with dates from the next century if it is asked to manipulate or process dates.

If a date is written into a letter, for example a planned event on the 20th. March 2000, the computer sees this as just text, it does not recognise it as a date, and is quite happy.

However, if a spread sheet is being prepared which uses dates, and the spread sheet is requested to calculate the time span between two dates, for example 15th April 1999 and 30th. September 2001, then the computer might either refuse to do it, or worse, produce a wrong answer.

If a computer is not able to cope with dates after the 1st January 2000, it will not become immediately useless. It should still be able to be used for producing letters, printing brochures, playing Solitaire or zapping aliens. It just will not know what the correct date is.

Return to the Year 2000 index page