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It's also called the Millennium bug or bomb, but that is not an entirely correct view of the problem.
Why is there a problemThe problem exists because we tend to write years with only two digits, so that 1999 is written as 99. Programmers of computers for the past decades adopted this system of using only two digits, they saved memory in their system (memory was very expensive in the early days of computing), they might saved a little time when entering years on the keyboard. The problem was that the two-digit system could lead to big troubles when going to year 2000 and beyond, because the first two digits are no longer '19' but '20', and the software or hardware does not know the difference (except if told so). Computers suddenly approaching year 2000, could think they are in 1900, 1970 or similiar, which can cause big troubles, they might shut down, stop working or continue working, but producing bad data, which again could cause problems in other systems.The gain of memory in the past, by using only 2 digits instead of 4 for representing the year, leads to a cost of billions of dollars, required to find the problems, fix them before it's too late, or fix problems that already has occured because of the problem. There are billions of lines of software and hardware code to check, so it is a giant problem. What could happenThere are many things that could happen. All software and hardware that are not year 2000 compliant could lead to problems in many areas, some of them being evident just as the year 2000 starts, and some that could lead to more long-term problems. Programs and hardware that knows about time and date are potential "bombs", software and hardware that does not use current time at all, are less likely to cause problems. Some of the effects are psychological, people fear for what can happen, and makes things worse.
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External linksThis subject is much more detailed explained elsewhere, these external links are recommended:
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