| Gamerace said: Then the ridiculous media overblowing of the Y2K thing. 2000 came and went. Notta. |
Let me apologize in advance: Sorry. This is a pet peeve of mine.
Y2K was, software-wise, a disaster that was averted. And it was averted because of all the media attention, which got software (and hardware) companies working on the problems before they became serious. I mean, maybe you don't consider the bank transaction systems shutting down a crisis...but then have you ever lived through a time when the bank denied you access to your money? Imagine it on a larger scale.
What kind of impact would it have been to wall street to find out that thousands of companies couldn't do their financial reports because their accounting software had a Y2K glitch in it and they had to delay it? How about the number of unionized payroll workers who didn't get a paycheck on time because the programs failed to function for the first payroll of the year?
No, the earth wasn't going to be torn asunder by earthquakes and heaters that didn't shut off because of a Y2K glitch. But financially, I think the software industry averted some significant financial disasters waiting to happen. Not to mention the huge army of blood thirsty lawyers who were just waiting with class action lawsuit papers bursting out of their briefcases.
I don't look at Y2K nonevent as a media failure. I look at it as a software development success.
Being in the trenches, I saw what was going to happen had we not made the changes we did, and that's just in my company. I'm sure there were similar things in other companies.
