LGR Tech Tales - Y2K: The Year 2000 Problem

Was Y2K real? Was it a hoax? On January 1st, 2000, a computer glitch dubbed The Millennium Bug was supposed to occur at midnight on New Year's and affect our technology in a major way. 20 years later we know nothing much happened, but why? Join me and find out on LGR Tech Tales!

● LGR links:

● Voice credits in order of appearance:

● Jazzy background music courtesy of:

● Information sources and credits:

#LGR #TechTales #Y2K

[LGR]

Special thanks to my friends and colleagues who brought to life those 20-year-old Y2K comments! In order of appearance:

[pauld]

My favorite joke of 1999: "The Millennium Computer Bug is now abbreviated to Y2K. Isn't that the sort of thing that caused the problem in the first place?"

[AndHatingIt]

I was having explosive diarrhea the exact moment Y2K was supposed to happen. I remember thinking, even if the lights go out, I've got bigger problems to deal with right now.

[ryanellis]

I was a kid when the ball dropped on the year 2000.
Coincidentally our power went out a little bot later and my Grandfather lost his SHIT for like an hour until it came back on.

[reflexnight]

12 am that night the manager of my apartment complex turned off the power for 5 minutes as a practical joke.

[jpsplat]

My dad horded a lot of food for the impending y2k disaster. We finished all of the rice in 2014.

[CapnBlindbeard]

Ok, I think we're going to need an Oddware episode on the Y2K BIOS card.

[robertmudry]

I went through that nightmare as a defense contractor. I don’t know what was worse: the late nights hunting down and fixing the problems, or all the paperwork required to show we actually fixed it.

[AFGiant]

14:24 Hey! That's my dad! My family owned Super Video in NY which was one of the few businesses actually impacted by the Y2K bug. My dad had paid someone to proof the computer system but it still got hit and rang up those outrageous late fees. I don't remember the system or the make of the computers (I'm sure my dad would remember, I can ask) but I remember all the terminals had that green glowing text with the command line and everything. We've got a scrapbook of newspaper clippings from around the world and a bunch of VHS news recordings of all the coverage our store got. Weird times. Fun to see it here!

[annabeth]

I remember when Y2K hysteria was gain traction my Dad (who had been working at HP since the 70s) said they (government /companies) are just creating panic to cover up procrastinating for 30 years and it's going to cost a lot more money to be done in time.

[Unclaimed_Username]

"Y2K-Mart" is possibly the most dated name for a website I can think of that's not Geocities.

[corbor]

I want LGR themed “Y2K Compliant” stickers to put on everything

[LSftw]

I love the nod to the 2038 Unix time overflow problem at the end there!

I’ve been waiting ages for a new tech tales! This is such quality content!

[mhacke]

I worked on the Y2K project as a programmer for two different companies. It was nice being apart of something so important and global. I remember sleeping on the floor at my desk at work when my boss woke me up after midnight and said that everything worked and we could go home. They were very big projects with long hours and a great success. It was definitely a real problem, but the media did blow it out of proportion.

[apl]

I remember at work we had a bunch of little green stickers that said "Y2K Hardware (BIOS) Compliant" that we put on all the tech equipment after we verified they were good to go for Y2K. I ended up putting them on all sorts of things at home: dishwasher, fridge, micro, doorbell, paper shredder, the cat, etc.

[Mushroom]

I still remember this and laugh.

I was already a computer tech, and I had a lot of people ask me if they should have a Y2K survival kit. And I always shocked them with a simple "Yes".

They would then of course ask if I thought there would be chaos, and I of coirse said no. But we lived in LA, and a Y2K kit was the same as an earthquake kit, and everybody should have one of those.

[adamdaminer]

My dad and I were watching this over dinner, and he told me some stories about his time trying to prepare his computers at work for the Y2K bug. The thing is, he never got any recognition from it. The only people that got recognition from it were just people trying to scam you. So, my thanks goes out to everyone that actually worked on trying to prepare computers for the Y2K bug, and thank you dad. And thank you Clint for making this video, because my dad and I got to bond over something from his past and I got to here what it was like for him. :)

[dingdongbells]

I like how some Tech Tales have this dark, gloomy, intro... but then when it's the world ending Y2K bug. It's just a jolly jazz filled romp. Ah, this one is actually a pretty nostalgic trip down memory lane. My parents didn't believe in Y2k, but we still spent New Year's Eve watching the ball drop from our basement and joking (maybe a bit nervously) about how it might end the world. Then when midnight came and went after the ball drop, we all went back up stairs and went to bed and slept peacefully, knowing the world didn't end. It really wasn't such a big deal after all.

Edit: Perhaps I should clarify that this was just my sense at the time, blissfully unaware that programmers had invested an enormous number of hours into fixing programs to prevent Y2K from coming to fruition.

[_motho_]

FINALLY.

I’ve seen so many youtube “history” channels stating, “lmao everyone freaked out about y2k but nothing happened” and it pisses me off. Y2K DIDN’T HAPPEN BECAUSE PEOPLE LIKE MY DAD WORKED THEIR ASSES OFF FIXING IT BEFORE IT HAPPENED.

[niamaru]

Being one of those worker that worked on fixing COBOL systems for y2k, I appreciate the light you are shining on this