Millennium bug fails to bite

The millennium bug has failed to cause the chaos that many had feared, as computers around the world rolled over into the year 2000 with barely a hiccup.

Power stations, banks, air traffic control and hospitals all kept working as the clocks passed midnight on 1 January. Governments and businesses reported only minor problems, most of them quickly fixed.

What was the bug?

The problem arose because many older computer systems stored years using only two digits, so that 1999 was recorded as 99. When the date changed to 2000, there were fears that systems would read 00 as 1900, causing calculations to go wrong and machines to shut down.

The issue affected everything from mainframe computers running payroll and pensions to the tiny chips embedded in lifts, medical equipment and factory machinery. Experts warned that failures could spread from one system to another.

Years of preparation

Governments and companies spent years checking and fixing their systems. Estimates of the worldwide cost run into hundreds of billions of dollars. In Britain, the government set up Action 2000 to help businesses and public services prepare, and thousands of programmers were employed to rewrite old code.

Some critics now argue that the threat was exaggerated and the money wasted. Those who did the work reply that the smooth changeover is proof that the effort paid off, and that the problems would have been far worse if nothing had been done.

Minor glitches

A handful of problems were reported around the world. Some websites displayed the date as 19100, a small number of ticket and card machines failed, and there were isolated faults in monitoring equipment. None caused serious harm.

Engineers say some issues may still emerge in the coming weeks, particularly at the end of February, because 2000 is a leap year, which some systems may not recognise.

A turning point

The millennium bug has been one of the biggest technology projects in history, and it has made many organisations take a hard look at their computer systems for the first time. Many have replaced old equipment and updated their software as a result.

For most people, though, the new year arrived just like any other, with the lights on and the cash machines working.