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“I have no special talents, I am only passionately curious” - Part III.
December 31, 1999; the world was holding its breath, all eyes were on Fiji, Tonga, New Zealand and Australia. For a reason that would turn out to be a big non-event. The previous 5 years had seen tremendous time and effort spent on figuring out whether computer systems were able to cope with the turn of the century switch to the year 2000. Many systems had been designed with just two digits for the year, so 99 would change to 00. Pundits, consultants and software houses had all been busy conjuring up nightmare scenarios with planes falling out of the sky, power plants ceasing to operate, military installations failing and much more. Globally an estimated $300–500 Billion was spent in the second half of the ’90s on Y2K readiness [according to slate.com, 2009].
The big non-event was preceded by celebrations around the world with giddy excitement of the opportunity that a new millennium would bring about. The end of the Cold War had created immense new opportunities. Globalisation was accelerating. Technology was on a tear. There were hopes that the horrors and evil of the war in Yugoslavia were coming to an end with a death toll of an estimated 140,000 and millions of people displaced.
