Y2K vs. Global warming

[Dead_Parrot]

I've heard - more than once - that that the threat of global warming is like the threat of the Y2K bug

"Yeah, global warming, end of the world, but that's what they said about the year 2000 and it turned out to be nothing!"

Let me tell you about the year 2000. Actually, no, let me tell you about about 1998.

1998, in the company I worked for, was the year we realised that the new systems we were promised wouldn't be in place in time. 1998 was the year we realised we would have to upgrade our shit to y2k compliance, with no more than our operational budget. And 1998 & 1999 were the hardest fucking years of my life.

I work in Information Technology. Have done for a while - I used to make Christmas decorations out of punch tape and use punch cards as notepads, I'm that fucking old & techy. I know why, given the limits of 70's computers, programmers stuck to a 2 digit date.

They had no idea the shit would hit the fan the way it did.

That's a big problem when you switch millenia: My three collegues and I spent the next 18 months checking something like a million lines of machine code, 6,000 PCs and and 3,000 other bits of equipment - from 10-ton cranes to printers - making sure it would run after Y2K. Lots of changes were needed, but we made them.

On the 1^st Janurary, we all piled into the office to check, and every fucking thing worked.

And it wasn't just us. Our peers at Chase Manhattan. Virgin Media, the BBC, Air China, and Amoco did exactly the same thing. We knew what the problem was and we fixed it.

And on the first of Janurary 2000, the ATMs and petrol pumps and postage scales all worked. Y2K was nothing.

The average man in the street didn't see anything, of course: No problem here, move along. But for those of us fixing it, it was fucking hard work.

Y2K was an IT problem. The IT guys fixed it, and we just about had enough time.

Global Warming is a human problem. The humans need to fix it, and we just about have enough time.

If We Start Today.

'Cause in a few years time, we'll be fucked.

[NYC_SKP]

1. In a Head to Head, Global Warming beats Y2K Hands Down. n/t

[Dead_Parrot]

3. You'd think so

Although unless you grow your own food, having the chip that runs the engine that runs the truck that serves your local shop might be a consideration.

[Kaleva]

2. The problem with climate change is we don't know if the tipping point has already been reached.

But your post is a good read. Rec'd.

[47of74]

4. I remember that

It was a busy time for us too, but it all turned out pretty good. We had some hiccups but we had more trouble getting people at the various offices to report in and confirm everything was OK. I asked a friend about it, he said at the place he worked there was an old program that didn't like the new year, but a simple fix and a recompile and everything was OK there too.

[doc03]

5. A big reason Y2K didn't turn into a disaster is we

had a President at the time that recognised the threat and billions were spent to avoid it.

[Dead_Parrot]

6. Not just the president

It was people in Kenya, China, Kyrgyzstan, Bolivia, Germany, New Caledonia, the UK...

Everyone involved fixed the problem. We need to do that again.

[Ian David]

7. Bill Clinton saved us from Y2K disasters.

Granted, not in the most efficient way possible.

But if we'd ignored it, we'd have been screwed.