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The State of Texas has listed a few of the more important aspects of the Year 2000 Problem. Anyone who dismisses this list is whistling past the graveyard. I hope it's not YOUR graveyard.
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The majority of critical solutions must be implemented in the 1998-99 biennium.
Computing environments and telecommunications may not work as expected even prior to January 1, 2000, as a result of computer applications or programs not correctly processing dates later than December 31, 1999.
Any application or program, which contains arithmetic functions, calculations, or dependencies on dates, e.g., accounting systems, insurance systems, financial systems, etc., will produce incorrect results if the systems have not been updated to properly pricess year 2000 dates.
Virtually every computer and telecommunications system, which relies on computer chip technology, will be affected.
Examples of impacted systems with computer chips include vehicles, traffic signals, and VCR's.
The problem is not unique to government applications, but is equally serious for private industry.
Fast, cheap, or easy solutions are not available to solve this problem.
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Think about these two words: "traffic signals." Think of what life would be like in Los Angeles or Houston if traffic signals shut down or start acting randomly. There will be very few people still on the highway after a month. Then what happens to the residents? What happens to all of us, who depend on the productivity of the cities? Something like this massive traffic jam was discussed in Roberto Vacca's 1974 book, THE COMING DARK AGE.
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