End of XP Support is Y2K All Over Again
By Richard Hay for Windows Observer
Our good friend Richard Hay at Windows Observer says the buzz over the end of Windows XP support – feels oddly familiar.–PC Pitstop
The last few weeks have really felt like déjà vu.
If you were around in the waning years of the 1990’s you will remember the discussion, hype, fear and general confusion that reigned concerning what would happen at midnight on 31 December 1999.
The Year 2000 Problem, Y2K for short, was creating concern because historically we had always abbreviated the current year from 4 to 2 digits to save space in software programs, forms, etc.
As New Year’s Day 01 January 2000 approached the concern was that electronic programs and equipment would either cease to function gracefully or catastrophically. Either way a significant amount of money was poured into efforts to correct these problems and upgrade both the software and hardware components of systems to prevent everything electronic failing as the clock struck midnight.
According to sources referenced on the Y2K WikiPedia article here is what it cost the US alone:
The total cost of the work done in preparation for Y2K is estimated at over US$300 billion ($400 billion in 2013 US dollars. IDC calculated that the U.S. spent an estimated $134 billion ($179 billion) preparing for Y2K, and another $13 billion ($17 billion) fixing problems in 2000 and 2001. Worldwide, $308 billion ($411 billion) was estimated to have been spent on Y2K remediation.
I was in the Navy during that time and was stationed overseas in Italy. Our concerns were doubled because we not only had our US based communications systems but also depended upon the local Italian infrastructure and there were concerns on how things would go at the shift from 1999 to 2000 all across Italy.
This excerpt appears with permission from Windows Observer.
