"On New Years Day 2000 all the computers in the world are going to explode!" "Computers in power plants and pumping stations will be rendered useless!" "We'll need to stock up on food and water!" "The human race will be sent back to the stone ages!"
    These are the messages that the media is sending to the public concerning the Y2K computer bug. I, as a computer expert, will say to everyone right now that the Y2K computer problem will be a minor inconvenience if not an insignificant blip on the calendar. Let me explain why.
    "The Y2K Computer Bug" refers to the fact that some older computers will not recognize the year 2000 (and 2001, 2002, etc.) as 2000; instead they will see it as 1900. As I said, only some older computers are afflicted with this problem. Mainly computers made before 1995 and running any operating system besides the Macintosh OS, Windows 95, 98, CE, and NT, Linux, Unix, OS/2, Amiga, MS-DOS, and a heaping handful of other operating systems will not be in the category of Y2K compliant, meaning that there are very few operating systems that are not Y2K compliant. Some old bank computers, business computers, cash registers, automatic doors, and other older business related objects will be affected in the sense that they will just stop running. They will not explode, as some fanatics might want to think. But most businesses and government agencies are preparing themselves for this potential problem; and I can assure you that if they are not ready for Y2K when the last week in December comes around, they will be working all evening and all night every day from there on out to fix the problem. Businesses can't afford for their computers to stop running on a business day, can they? So the only thing they can do is try to the very best of their ability to fix the problem before it becomes a problem. Because of all this preparing, 98% of all businesses and government agencies will be ready for Y2K and have no problems when the date changes.
    Now onto the subject of the utilities. Does a car explode when you put it in park? No, of course not. The same is true with the utilities (with one exception which will be mentioned later). The utilities will not explode if they are not Y2K compliant. You just might be without power and water for a little while. But that will only happen if the utility companies let it happen. Nibble on this: if company A is not Y2K compliant in one area, and company B is compliant in the same area, who do you think customers will switch to when the dust clears? Right, company B because they are more reliable. So company A should prepare their utilities to make themselves look better. It's in their own best interests. So most (and I do mean most) utilities will be Y2K compliant. The nuclear power plants definitely would have a problem if their computers went blank. They would not be able to cool the nuclear reactors and therefore be on the verge of a meltdown. For this very good reason, every single nuclear plant will be Y2K compliant.
    Other countries? Most developed countries, like Japan, Great Britain, and Australia, are (or will be) as or more Y2K compliant than the US. No problems there. The poorer countries, like Russia, might have a few problems, but nothing serious. They don't have personal computers like we do. They have bigger, older computers from the Cold War and have not been able to upgrade them due to money problems. So those machines don't control much. The much less developed nations, like the Republic of Congo, don't even have computers for the most part, so they will not have any problem.
    See? Looking better than the media made it out to be? But if the public doesn't see that, we could have human caused problems on our hands. Think about this: if people think that the stock market will crash in late December because of Y2K worries, what are they going to do? Pull their money out of the market. What are other investors going to do when they see this pull out? Pull their money out of the market. And thus you do have a stock market crash, which could, in the end, be due to human panicking rather than Y2K. People could clear the shelves of supermarkets expecting the worst- BOOM -food shortage. People could take all of their money out of the banks thinking that the banks will not survive the wrath of Y2K- BOOM - a depression. Yes, that was one factor that led to the depression of the 1930's: people took their money out of the stock market and the banks. The gullible people factor could be more dangerous and harmful than the computers.
    Unfortunately, the media has a vicious tendency these days to exaggerate everything far beyond reality to get ratings. As the new millennium approaches, I guarantee you that you will see all kinds of Y2K special reports on the major networks. You know why? They want ratings. "How can they exaggerate things so much?" you ask? Because there are gullible people out there that believe everything the media says. There are gullible people that will be stocking food and water and hiding in their own newly built bomb shelter come the year 2000. Please, I urge you, do not be a gullible person!