Y2K is OK

February 8, 1999

There is not going to be a Y2K disaster. Life in 2000 will be very much like life in 1999.

That’s not what the “Millennium Madness” hucksters want you to believe, of course.

Jerry Falwell has sold thousands of $28 videotapes titled “A Christian’s Guide to the Millennium Bug” warning gullible buyers that: “Y2K is a warning from God, who is using it to shake this nation.” In a surprisingly un-Christian statement, Falwell admits he is going to stock up on food, sugar, gasoline and ammunition, apparently preferring to trust firearms instead of faith.

Falwell’s flim-flam is false, of course. The world won’t end, Jesus won't reappear, and no one will be “beamed up” in the middle of their New Year’s Eve party, just because of data processing.

My company specializes in Y2K. For 30 years, we have built and sold sophisticated software that analyzes other software on America’s largest computers. We helped many institutions get ready for Y2K. I talk to North American customers every day, and meet with San Francisco business groups frequently. The message that comes through strong and clear is that systems are going to make the transition to Y2K just fine.

Many experts (both human and software) have inspected the thousands of programs that keep our business and government running. Needed changes have been identified and completed. This final year is being spent on testing, testing and more testing to be sure everything is OK.

So far, things look good. Financial institutions routinely work with loans, mortgages and life insurance policies that mature in the 21st Century. Travel agents already sell airline tickets for flights in Year 2000 without any problems. The stock exchanges ran a full-scale one-day Y2K test a few months ago, and everything ran fine. Problems are already few and far between, with a year to go.

Our institutions are going to provide our needs, from petroleum to power to paychecks to pants, with the same level of service as before.

Is everything going to be perfect on New Year’s Eve? Almost certainly not -- Murphy’s Law still holds. Given the complexity of modern networked computers, we’ll surely find some minor things someone forgot to change. Small glitches, especially in small systems and small companies, will probably occur. But those will be quickly corrected.

Planes will still fly, eggs will still fry, and babies will still cry.

A supply of extra food, candles and first aid kits will be more useful for natural disasters than for calendar flipping. “Millennium Madness” is not justified by the facts I meet every day.

Gentleman Jim Heldberg is National Affiliation Director for American Atheists, and lives in his favorite city, by the bay.

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