Y (2K) - The Potential For Disaster

The U.S. Government prepared for Y2K for years, but the actual progress made by the dawning of 2000 was uncertain. The credit card giants Visa, American Express, and MasterCard invested millions of dollars in solving the problem together, assisted merchants who carry their cards, and time-proofed the VeriFone system that authorizes transactions. Among the gloomiest predictions were worries that air traffic control systems would fail, major utilities would be unable to supply water and power, and banks would not acknowledge mortgage payments or social security checks. The heritage of the original COBOL programming was passed down through generations of computers to the personal computer or PC, and computer chips that control the workings of some of our simplest devices like coffeemakers that display the date also control automobiles, heavy machinery, building security systems, and space satellites. Such built-in processors are called embedded systems, and those that are date-dependent were not expected to function properly or to shut down as 1999 rolled over to 2000.