1999 throwback - the Millennium Bug

Pawnless Endgame · 2024-12-25T20:14:52+0000

I'm having a nostalgia for 1999 at the moment as it's now 25 years ago. It was early internet and our 1st PCs for many of us with chat rooms, ICQ/AIM, Netscape, mp3.com, Hampsterdance, early web forums, coverage of the '99 eclipse, Age of Empires II and so on. It was before the internet got sanitised by so-called social media and the big corporations.

Somewhere amongst this in the tech world was the imminent Millennium Bug. Does anyone remember the build up to it, how it got dealt with, and any setbacks? The main thing I can remember is that some forum software rolled over from 1999 to 19100, meaning that 19 was hard-coded and only the 99 year part was a variable. This got patched pretty quickly.

I found an old gov.uk site from archive.org with an interesting read about the "dangers" of the Millennium Bug.

What Everyone Should Know About The Millennium Bug : UK Government : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

A public information leaflet produced by the UK government to inform and advise citizens about the Millennium Bug.

archive.org

There are numerous download links on there that still work on the archive site (surprisingly!) e.g. text only, JPG, PDF, ZIP etc. Here's a link to the PDF (32MB) for a bit of light Christmas reading :-)

I found it interesting that the language used was a bit different in 1999 to how a gov.uk web site would be worded now. It seemed less formal and less threatening back then.

https://archive.org/download/WhatEveryoneShouldKnowAboutTheMillenniumBug/What_Everyone_Should_Know_About_The_Millennium_Bug.pdf

GGizmo · 2024-12-25T20:22:56+0000

I remember manufacturers rushing to patch their hardware in anticipation.

I saw the bug demonstrated via a computer program.

But I can't remember anything actually happening with millennium bug itself?

throwaway4372 · 2024-12-25T20:25:37+0000

I remember the panic about the millennium bug but it was obvious it would be fixed because it had to be and I don't recall seeing any issues.

This may be of interest:

Year 2038 problem - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

hartgeh3 · 2024-12-25T20:30:09+0000

Diddums · 2024-12-25T20:36:35+0000

CLICK ME CLICK ME CLICK ME

tamzzy · 2024-12-25T20:56:03+0000

GGizmo said:
But I can't remember anything actually happening with millennium bug itself?

I guess that's because all the programmers' efforts worked and it was reduced to a non-event.

Nothing happening is a good thing...not a conspiracy theory

Meridian · 2024-12-25T20:59:48+0000

I spent New Year's Eve at work, making sure that the patch applied to our computers worked, and we didn't issue a load of legally-significant paperwork apparently in the year 100. It did, and we didn't.

StriderX · 2024-12-25T21:04:31+0000

Next time it happens they should just let it happen

Efour · 2024-12-25T21:05:42+0000

I was temping for a firm contracted to fix millennium bug nonsense for abn amro on Liverpool Street.

Was good fun. Fresh out of uni easy money.

CaptainRAVE · 2024-12-25T21:11:33+0000

I remember it was going to be the end of the world, Americans heading for the mountains etc etc. It probably would have been an issue if not for a big push to patch all critical systems before the date.

CaptainRAVE · 2024-12-25T21:12:06+0000

Diddums said:
CLICK ME CLICK ME CLICK ME

Winamp! Nostalgia

Terminal_Boy · 2024-12-25T21:12:50+0000

What happened is that a bunch of QA folks tested for it all over planet and got patches deployed when they found an issue.

I worked for NEC at the time and they had to patch SW on their GSM phones (not really a big issue as no-one bought them) and number of other products.

Feek · 2024-12-25T21:13:41+0000

We spent months and lots of money preparing for it, as did many companies. Because of that, it was a non-event.

ThePainBarrier · 2024-12-25T21:15:02+0000

Yes, I was fixing it. Our software used a 2 digit year (written in COBOL!) so we changed it to use a Julian date instead.
People say millennium bug was never that bad - that's because people, like me, fixed it!

Em3bbs · 2024-12-25T21:31:12+0000

It was a fantastic time to be an IT contractor. Getting paid ********* of money to patch everything, the easiest work I've ever done in my life and some of the most lucrative.

Feek · 2024-12-25T21:35:19+0000

Yup, at the time, I worked for a company who had the support contract at a large UK manufacturer. Once we'd worked out what needed doing, I drove around all our factories in the UK, simply doing patches, most of it on O/T.

Kelt · 2024-12-25T21:43:12+0000

I remember I worked opposite a chap who used to work in banking software using Cobol, and he said they knew the problem was going to arise when they were programming it, and expected to make lots of dosh fixing it!

Also in another job, worked with a guy who used to write for the IBM AS400, and he told me they'd often put glitches in the code, timed to cause problems at certain times, guaranteeing future work to 'fix' it.

Certainly an eye opener to me.

Rilot · 2024-12-25T21:51:14+0000

I worked NYE 1999 and made a bloody fortune. I basically named my price.
We had 0 issues and I made bank.

I kill Bunnies · 2024-12-25T22:22:42+0000

I remember the Simpsons episode. For the night itself it was at a local venue and I remember my mate Mike ******** himself on the walk home.

HoneyBadger · 2024-12-25T22:26:11+0000

I was at college studying computers. My best mate was an apprectice at McDonald Douglas in the IT Team and he got paid a fortune. He asked me go to his office and we hung out, ordered pizza and generally messed about.