WHAT ARE THE CONSEQUENCES OF Y2k PROBLEMS?
It isn’t possible to predict right now (March 1999) how many computer systems won’t get fixed in time, or how badly the failed systems will affect our lives. Nobody really knows whether most people will muddle through somehow, or if civilization will collapse. There are likely to be wide variations in the quantity and the quality of remediation efforts; and geographical differences in the impact of failed computer systems on society. Organizations which are able to remediate their own systems are legitimately concerned about the potential for errors introduced into these compliant systems through interface with non-compliant systems. Even interactions between systems using different methods of remediation (ie. a system using a windowing technique attempting communications with a system using date expansion) may cause data corruption or application failure. Inadequate testing of Y2k fixes may result in poor operation of supposedly compliant software. People are generally unaware of the
