Days Clicking Down To Rid Y2K Bug

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Clock Ticking For Turn Of Century Computer Glitch

WASHINGTON, D.C., Posted 9:13 a.m. August 20, 1998 -- The clock is ticking. Yesterday was "Global Y2K Action Day," with only 500 days remaining until the calendar flips to 2000. Many people around the world are marking the day with events to promote preparedness.

Jan. 1, 2000 is when the turn-of-the-century bug bites our computers, and our lives.

Is that true? Will millions of computers become confused about the date and malfunction? Or are businesses and agencies ready to stop the glitch? Is the Y2K bug a potential disaster or merely an inconvenience?

Here's the problem: Not all computers will support the date change on Jan. 1, 2000 -- because programmers made a decision, around 25 years ago, to stay with only two digits for the date. As a result, these systems will mistakenly read 2000 as 1900.

Left uncorrected, the Year 2000 computer flaw could threaten the world's electrical grids, financial markets and water supplies, The Associated Press reports. Experts say it probably won't affect the computer chips in your television or VCR, and your car probably will start. But the traffic lights might not work. According to AP, here are a few examples of what could go wrong, if computers aren't fixed before 2000.

•Experts say computers that regulate the flow of electricity through power grids could become confused. That could produce widespread blackouts. Similar problems could disrupt telephone service and shut off water supplies.

•Experts also say a telephone call that begins just before midnight Dec. 31, 1999 and ends minutes later on Jan. 1, 2000, could be billed as a 99-year conversation. •Many ATM machines will refuse to spit out money.

•A credit-card bill owed on Jan. 7, 2000, could be mistaken as 99 years past due.

•Social Security computers might refuse to issue a check to a woman born in 1912 because it might appear she hasn't been born yet.

•Some coffee makers won't brew.

While many companies, such as AT&T, and some government agencies, including the Social Security Administration, are reportedly well along in fixing their computers, others are not. The AP reports more than 80 percent of large U.S. firms are behind schedule in fixing their computer bugs, according to a survey by the Cap Gemini America consulting firm.

According to AP, economist Alex Patelis predicts economic disruptions comparable to the trouble caused by a major natural disaster such as a hurricane -- damaging, but not enough to create panic or throw the country into a recession.

On the other hand, Edward Yardeni, another economist and an international expert on Y2K, warns of the likelihood of major disruptions to the global economy.

The bottom line is there is much that we don't know about the Year 2000 bug. The possibilities seem endless. So do the predictions. The 'Net offers hundreds of Web sites to try to help you sort out the fact and the fiction.