Some background and the economics of a date… Why does this problem exist? Did computers secretly become self-aware and plot a conspiracy that would end up costing trillions of dollars worldwide to fix? No, unfortunately this answer would at least be a little more exciting!

The answer, ironically and simply, is the almighty dollar and the extremely high costs of memory in the 1970's. In the early days of Information Services, memory was very expensive. By asking the developers to conserve just two bits per record in memory (the "19" in "1975", for example), organizations were able to realize millions of dollars in savings. In addition, applications were never expected to have 20-30 years of life, as many have. Also, the programming habits and processes developed at the time became de-facto standards and are still being followed today.

There is also a sociological aspect to the Y2K problem as well. In our society, people automatically represent years in two digits. For example, when was the last time you wrote out all four digits of the century on a check? When we speak dates, we also reinforce the two-digit 'shortcut' as in the "86 World Series".

Human nature shares a large part of the responsibility for this problem as well. In the 1960s, programmers only used a single digit for the century. In 1968, as they started to look at 1970, they wondered how they would deal with it. At the same time, they knew that the turn of the millennium would be a problem, but it was so far in the future, programmers never imagined their applications would still be in use, so it was assumed they would not be susceptible to the Year 2000 problem.

What are the issues? The Year 2000 issue is not difficult to understand from the technical point of view. It is the massive scope of the affected systems and business processes that makes this problem so challenging and overwhelming to many people. The problem stems from three main issues: two-digit date storage, leap year calculations, and special meanings for dates when used in the structuring or the flow of any and all computer based equipment and software.

All organizations and individuals that in any way rely on any data or the usage of microprocessor-based equipment must address the implications of these three issues, in order to continue in business after December 31, 1999.

Fortunately, due to the fact that many regulated industries were forced by the government to start their Y2K projects several years ago to ensure compliance, large amounts of information and many analyses and repair tools have already been developed. However, there are not any simple fixes or "silver bullets" for all of the Year 2000 issues that will arise. This is because the use of dates in system development of all types is both pervasive and fundamental. The 'when' of data storage is practically a requirement if any benefit is to be gained by storing and manipulating the data electronically.

As the Information Technology Market has grown at near light-speed, industry leaders finally led efforts to begin developing standards for many different technological issues. Unfortunately, it was far too late to develop any standards for date storage and usuage.

For the complete CrystalTech Y2K report, please email us. Consultants are available to help you with your Y2K, database and networking needs.

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