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Tuesday, 4 January, 2000, 18:04 GMT
Was Y2K bug a boost?
By BBC News Online's Damian Carrington
As the world returns to work in a new millennium, the computer bug which apparently threatened chaos has caused barely any damage.
So, was the estimated $500bn spent world-wide fighting the millennium bug really a waste of money? The generally seamless global transition from the old millennium to the new does suggest that the lavish preparations were over the top.
But two facts suggest that a large part of the expenditure was money well spent. Firstly, there were actually plenty of Y2K problems. They did not involve nuclear missiles accidentally launching or stock markets crashing into techno-meltdown, but they were genuine Y2K problems nonetheless. The millennium bug was real. Some verged on the serious, like the glitches that hit the Japanese nuclear power plants and the US military satellite.
The fact that none of the glitches caused major incidents is widely seen as vindication of the Y2K preparation.
The second fact which may in time indicate that the Y2K money was well spent is that the Y2K bug is not dead yet. The true extent of the Y2K bug is yet to be determined and may turn out to be much larger than is now obvious. Most estimates suggest that problems will continue to crop up for several months, if not the whole year. "We are likely to continue to see glitches pop up here and there in the coming days and weeks," said US Y2K trouble-shooter, John Koskinen. "But I think they will not pose a threat to the nation's economy." Robin Guernier, head of the UK's independent bug watchdog Taskforce 2000, agreed: "We have a long way to go, the whole of 2000 and into 2001. It's really far too early to breathe a sigh of relief and say it's all done."
Economic boost The extraordinary sums spent on tackling the Y2K bug may even bring benefits to businesses and national economies, believe some analysts. This is because older computer systems cobbled together over years were swept away by new, fast and streamlined networks. US economist Lawrence Kudlow, at Schroder and Co investment bank, said: "Y2K turns out to be a large net plus for the US economy." British Energy spokesman Bob Fenton agrees: "We've had an opportunity to dump a lot of redundant software." The French telecommunications company Cegetel also had no regrets over spending $33m to prepare for the year 2000. "The money we spent will be recouped in the long term because we now have an excellent, modern network. That can only be positive," said Cegetel spokeswoman Valerie Piot. Those who were charged with tackling the millennium bug would have been damned if there had been major problems and are now being damned because there were not.
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03 Jan 00 | Americas
04 Jan 00 | UK
03 Jan 00 | Americas
01 Jan 00 | Science/Nature
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