How the Microsoft outage reminds us of the Y2K bug
‘This is basically what we were all worried about with Y2K, except it's actually happened this time.’
The devastating IT glitch which has caused chaos across the world is being compared to the Y2K bug that was expected to wreak havoc with computer systems at the turn of the millennium.
Troy Hunt, a prominent security consultant, predicted that today’s ‘will be the largest IT outage in history’ in a social media post early on Friday.
He added: ‘This is basically what we were all worried about with Y2K, except it’s actually happened this time.’
For the benefit of Gen Z and Alpha – what’s Troy talking about?
Worries grew in the late 90s of a clash between the ushering in of the year 2000 and the two-digit year format preferred by programmers to save on computer memory.
It was feared that when 99 turned to 00, the year might be interpreted as 1900 rather than 2000, sending all sectors relying on IT systems into a tailspin.
As with today’s outage, transport was deemed to be a particular risk, with airlines and trains reliant on the correct time and date to function properly.
At the more serious end were fears over things like power plants, and what could potentially happen in a worst case scenario in which the computers controlling radiation levels failed.
But as the smoke from the fireworks cleared and the year 2000 became a few days old with no hint of any tech apocalypse, the Y2K bug quickly morphed into a punchline.
It was instead viewed as a hoax or some kind of end of the world cult.
Despite the catastrophe not coming to pass, those who worked on projects warning the public of the potential consequences still felt they did the right thing.
Looking back on the Y2K bug a decade ago, Gwynneth Flower, managing director of the Action 2000 group set up to ensure machines were ‘year 2000 compliant’, said: ‘We achieved our aim.
‘There were a few eccentrics. One woman virtually moved her whole family to a remote house in Scotland, with water only from a well at the bottom of the garden, because she thought it would be Armageddon.’
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