Y2K Problem Overview
Origin and Potential Impact
The year 2000 technology problem started as an innocuous short-termsolution to the oppressively high cost of computer memory in the1950s and 1960s. Programmers expected that the problems createdby the limited, two-digit method of date storage would solve themselvesas companies, governments, and other computer owners updated theirhardware and software.Fifty years after the introduction of the computer, the Y2Kproblem has the potential to develop into a worldwide crisis.Two common human failings contributed to the crisis — thetendency to follow a path of least resistance and the reluctanceto champion difficult and complex issues.The Y2K problem does not have to be a story of…
