The Year 2000 Bug.

Summary of the 'Millennium Bug' Problem

There is no such thing as a 'Millennium Bug'. It is not a 'Time Bomb, nor is it a 'Computer Virus' like infection.

The problem was in fact quite simple and stems from a design decision in the early stages of computing when engineers were instructed to limit the amount of memory used to store information.

Memory was horrendously expensive, so anything that could save a byte or two here and there could possibly save tens of thousands of pounds overall. With modern machines commonly containing 64Mb or 128Mb (Million Bytes) of memory it is interesting to note that a computer containing just 4Mb 4 Thousand Bytes) of memory would at one time have been considered huge and capable of running a payroll for thousands of employees!

In the early 1980's no one expected current systems to be still in service twenty or so years into the future. it was thought, therefore, that the 19 (in 1980) could be safely assumed (ignored) and only the last two digits of the year (the 80, 81 etc.) would need to be stored. In practice, these two year digits could be further combined to fit into just one single byte of memory (a single byte of memory can hold a single value between 0 and 255).

As new systems were developed and the IBM-PC started to replace mainframe systems, the legacy of two digit (single byte) year dates was continued. Eventually, other manufacturers started to copy the PC and the price of memory tumbled - but as memory became less expensive, the need for speed grew. Processing or accessing a single byte is twice as fast as processing two bytes, so the legacy continued.

Most modern software recognises both centuries and years providing four digit year dates, however, even the most up to date computers may have had parts that were too old to make sense of this additional information. In these cases, at midnight on the 31st December 1999, the year correctly advanced from 99 to 00 but the century stayed at 19. the date was then be reported to the computer as the 1st January 1900. some (usually old) computers absolutely refused to be set to a year of '00' - in this case these machines variously reported 1980 or even 1984.

There are a number of places where this legacy of two digit year dates rather than four has been carried over into modern systems causing grave concerns and potential problems and expense: Computer hardware and software Computer applications (e.g. spreadsheets and databases) Embedded chips (computer chips built into many pieces of electronic equipment and control systems).

If no action was taken incorrect dates may have caused potentially expensive disruption of many systems and processes. Some of the more obvious problems were accounts packages incorrectly calculating overdue items, payroll systems trying to pay negative values and databases that refused to work.

When this happened then at best it was inconvenient - at worst, it was a nightmare!

Pantheon Systems used its experience and specialised software solutions to assist with the assessment and management of the problem in IBM-PC compatible machines and successfully help all our customers into the new Millennium.