▲ 1 r/HistoryGaze
The Y2K scare was a widespread fear that computer systems would fail at midnight on January 1, 2000, because they only used two digits for the year, leading to potential mass, global technological chaos. It prompted massive, costly fixes, but resulted in minimal disruptions when the date arrived.
Older computer code often used only the last two digits of a year to save memory, leaving systems potentially unable to distinguish 2000 from 1900.
Experts feared catastrophic failures in critical infrastructure, including power outages, transportation shutdowns, financial system failures, and banking crises.
An estimated $300 - $600 billion was spent globally on fixing, updating, or replacing software and hardware.
The public stocked up on food, water, and cash; some predicted the apocalypse, with one fear-inducing acronym being "TEOTWAWKI" ("the end of the world as we know it").
The transition passed largely without incident due to extensive, last-minute IT work, though some minor glitches occurred, as detailed in.
u/NourIsBubblegumBliss — 7 hours ago
