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As we head into 2015, it's hard to think of any technical skill set less relevant than Y2K - the identification and fixing of computer systems and applications that used two decimal digits rather than four to store the year component of each date. As you may recall, the discovery of the problem (or perhaps, that the deadline to fix it was finally approaching) in the late '90s led to media hysteria and dire warnings about a world full of computers simultaneously losing their bearings, like HAL in the film 2001: A Space Odyssey. An artist has assembled a memorial to the crisis, in the form of a web site presenting photos of dozens of books dealing with Y2K from various perspectives.
This site could be seen as mindless diversion, but also as a digest of reaction likely to repeat itself in a subsequent "crisis", albeit with different media next time (blogging, for one, had yet to be invented).
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Rosco P. Coltrane on Sunday January 04 2015, @02:20PM
I made out like a bandit in 1999. I had programmed a trivial little DOS TSR to fix Y2K, an even more trivial exe that would set the clock to 2000 and check that it reported 1900 or not, and would prompt you to install the TSR if it did, and packaged both in a boot floppy with a red "Y2K emergency kit" label. I sold these floppies $60 a pop to worried CEOs who happened to still have DOS computers around. And let me tell you, I sold a SHITLOAD of them. And I'm not alone...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 04 2015, @04:11PM
The bigger the crisis and the smaller the time available to fix it, the more expensive it becomes.
Good, fast, cheap, pick any two.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 05 2015, @07:34AM
(Score: 2) by SuperCharlie on Sunday January 04 2015, @06:12PM
High-Five Jumping belly bump