What is the “Year 2000 problem (Y2k)?
The problem is that much of today’s computer software will be unable to handle the change of dates when we enter the year 2000. Experts have made dire predictions of commerce grinding to a halt as computer systems throughout the world break down, unable to process transactions. Things won’t be that bad, because companies are already working on the problem, but you should be aware of the potential impact on your business. The problem arises because most computers record dates using only the last two digits of the year, assuming that the first two digits are always “19.” For example, a date in 1998 is stored by the computer as “98.” Unless changes are made, computers will read the year 2000 as “00,” and assume that this refers to the year 1900. So if a company enters a payment as due in the year 2000, the computer will read this as 1900 and assume that the date has passed. Imagine how often computers are used to record the dates of bank deposits, bond maturities, hotel and airline reserv
