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midrange.com
Here is (I think) the Chicago Tribune article referred to in the recent
"Chicago/London" thread. Gee, I wish my firm had the resources to just
buy a new system (hrdware and software) in 1999!
Perspective - The week in review
MILLENNIAL MUSINGS
By Robert Davis. Robert Davis is a Tribune assistant
metropolitan editor
Web-posted Sunday, January 4, 1998; 7:45 a.m. CST
It is now 1998 and, like it or not, time to begin
considering the new millennium. Or is it The
Millennium?
Whatever you call it, it is less than two years away
and
no longer can be ignored.
The Year 2000, or Y2K as some Internet nerds and
others have taken to describing it, has been kind of
like a
big, strange dog that starts walking alongside you as
you
stroll through the park. You know you may have to deal
with it eventually, but, for the moment at least, it
seems
wise to ignore it and hope the problem resolves
itself.
Well, Y2K is not going to wander away and it won't
resolve itself.
Or will it?
There has been a lot of talk about how computers are
going to blow a gasket when the big moment comes. Just
when Dick Clark, looking much like he looked a
millennium ago, ushers in the year 2000 in Times
Square, millions of computers are expected to become
so
confused about the change in millennia that they will
cease to function properly.
Well, that computer purchased just a year ago somehow
seems to be able to change its own clock during the
two
yearly daylight-saving time shifts and then tell the
owner
that it has done it. This computer can do things even
its
owner doesn't know it can, so a layperson is
justifiably
skeptical that a mere change of a couple numbers in
the
year baffles it.
The way computers are changing so rapidly, it is
likely
that the Millennium Bug, as it has been dubbed, will
be
no problem if you just go out and buy a new computer
at
the end of 1999. OK, that problem is solved.
Checkbooks. Oh, there has been hand wringing about
how preprinted checks that have 19 blank-blank up in
the
corner will have to be thrown away. Well, a new box of
checks arrived last week, and there, in the upper
right-hand corner, were no numbers at all. So when
paying with a check, the presenter will have to write
out
all four digits of the year. Over the course of the
year,
that could add up to minutes. Another problem solved.
More magazines have been showing up in boxes recently
with the mailing labels indicating that the
subscription runs
through "01" or "02." This first came up in 1994 when,
in
a move designed to irritate other family members, a
10-year membership was self-obtained in the American
Association of Retired Persons. One of the AARP perks
was a 10-year subscription to Modern Maturity
magazine,
which bears a label saying the subscription is good
until
2004. Another perk is an AARP membership card that
bears the cryptic message "Expiration Oct 2004." Hmm.
A couple of problems solved there.
So then what is the big deal about Y2K anyway?
Well, to adequately prepare for the big day, one has
to
remember that a lot of people don't even consider it a
genuine big day. For one, there was no A.D. 0, so the
thousand-year period actually will have started 999
years
ago when the 2000 date is reached. The real
millennium,
purists will tell you, comes at the start of the year
2001,
but somehow that lacks the punch of the number 2000
unless you are a science-fiction movie buff.
Furthermore, although history is a bit unclear, Jesus
of
Nazareth actually was born in about 4 B.C., which
means
the millennium might have actually started in 1995 or
1996.
That is killjoy stuff, though.
The real spirit of Y2K, as everyone knows, is that it
is
going to provide the opportunity for a really good
party.
Maybe, too, some good reading.
First of all, the year leading up to New Year's Day
2000
will be filled with lots of news media lists--the 10
or even
the 1,000 best, worst, most influential, most evil,
most
important--and on and on and on. There will be lists
for
the decade, for the century, for the millennium.
Imagine. The Beatles will be battling with Beethoven,
Napoleon with Nehru, Henry the VIII with Bill the
Clinton, Al the Scarface with Attila the Hun, Martin
Luther with Martin Luther King Jr., Abraham Lincoln
with ABBA, Bob Dylan with Dylan Thomas with
Thomas Aquinas. What a party if they all show up!
And then there will be the rest of us.
The year 2000 is going to be upon us before we know
it.
In about 726 days, it will be here--Y2K--a leap year,
even, so we can endure it for an extra day.
For some, it will be a natural time of closure. A time
to
retire or change jobs or reflect on the future or muse
about the past. It is impossible to get firsthand
advice
about how to welcome the new millennium because those
who were around when 999 became 1000 aren't
anymore. Even the living people who welcomed the 20th
Century were too young, presumably, to remember what
it was like.
Many of us can remember 1976, the country's big 200th
birthday, which brought a bunch of tall ships into
East
Coast harbors and saw a lot of fireworks displays and
a
lot of commemorative junk now stored in attics or
basements.
There always seems to be some anniversary going on
these days, marking the 10th or the 20th or even the
50th
or 100th of something.
But 1,000 years! This is truly a big one--the only
time
any of us will be involved in a moment when the Big
Odometer of Life changes all four numbers at the same
time.
So, it is 1998 and there is still time to prepare.
There are
nearly two years left to get your millennium shopping
done, to prepare that party list, to decide where you
want
to be and what you want to be doing when the 1900s
become the 2000s.
After all, a millennium comes only once in a lifetime.
Or less.
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© 1997 Chicago Tribune
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