1.1 Motivation

Y2K problem

The third millennium has begun, and with it a new information technology age. Fast developments have to be expected, because together with the new millennium, a new age began without the Y2K problem. The Y2K problem involved huge manpower capacities to solve a simple but very costly problem with date formats. The removal of the Y2K problem was not creative as we can see, for instance, in the following example of a letter written by a software development manager, probably not meant to be taken all too seriously:

Y2K taken literally

Dear Boss,
Our staff has completed the 18 months of work on time and on budget. We have gone through every line of code in every program in every system. We have analyzed all databases and all data files, including backups and historic archives, and modified all data to reflect the change.

We are proud to report that we have completed the "Y2K" date change mission and have now implemented all changes to all programs and all data to reflect your new standards: Januark, Februark, March, April, Mak, June, Julk, August, September, October, November, December. As well as Sundak, Mondak, Tuesdak, Wednesdak, Thursdak, Fridak, Saturdak.

I trust that this is satisfactory, because to be honest, none of this "Y to K" problem has made any sense to me. But I understand it is a global problem, and our team is glad to help in any way possible.

And what does the year 2000 have to do...