Timing is everything
Is
2000 really Y2K? Computers don't count in the decimal system people
use. 2K, in the computer language of binary, means 2048. Coining
the phrase "Y2K" is a perfect example of how the Year 2000
bug came about in the first place.
Y2K is
a quick, glib and not necessarily accurate way of describing the
"millennium" or the Year 2000 bug. Go take a look at all
the corporate Web sites on the Internet. Only a few refer to the
potential problem as Y2K; most use the standard "Year 2000
problem" name.
The
problem, as everyone this side of Mars knows, is that your old
programs and some older computers won't know which century it is
after Dec. 31. It's a mistake shared by some of our politicians.
If you
haven't received the "free Y2K checker" from an online
buddy by now, you may have been spared one of the few feeble attempts
at humor about the impending date change. Watching your PC computer
screen go through what appears to be a thorough check of your system,
then start changing every letter "Y" it finds to the letter
"K", is a heart stopper. January becomes Januark; February
changes to Februark, and so on. Of course it doesn't really
corrupt your data, it only displays the joke on your screen. At
first, I didn't laugh either.
The
dilemma is real, of course, and I'll finally have to upgrade my
trusty and well-worn version of Quicken to a "Y2K compliant"
version. There are other programs that will need to be replaced as
they can't be upgraded to new versions.
Several
of the spreadsheet programs and even my word processor won't know
what the date is if I have to compute a moon landing or a solution to
world famine.
There
is no alternative but to replace them. The data can be exported from
the old programs and imported into the new ones. Most programs
update existing databases automatically. My old PCs will have to be
manually reset after the Dec. 31, 1999 rollover, but that will take
about 30 seconds each. I already have the default short date (in
Windows 95 & 98) set to the four-digit size field, rather than
the two-digit size that got us all into this mess.
All my
business records are backed up on tape and on diskette. Maybe I'll
break down and buy a CD/RW, a CD unit that allows me to save single
copies of massive data quickly. I have the same standard plan for
the Year 2000 problem as I do for any unseen occurrence that might
knock out my computers. So I have taken all the necessary safeguards
but perhaps not all the ones available, though. We're not moving to
an underground bunker, nor are we taking everything we own to the
mountains (though we would for a Category 5 hurricane).
And
I'm not going to stand here New Year's Night with the power on
watching PC screens. I just might spill something on these marvelous,
time-saving devices. Oh yes, I bought a new calendar, too.
George
Mindling ©
1999
