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<blockquote style="position: relative; padding-left: 55px;"><section><a href="https://sfba.social/users/drahardja/statuses/111683810166193489">Dave Rahardja (he/him) (drahardja@sfba.social)'s status on Tuesday, 02-Jan-2024 14:33:11 JST</a><a href="https://sfba.social/@drahardja" title="drahardja@sfba.social"><img src="https://gnusocial.jp/avatar/101928-48-20240614034533.webp" width="48" height="48" alt="Dave Rahardja (he/him)" style="position: absolute; left: 0; top: 0;">Dave Rahardja (he/him)</a></section><article><p>The Y2K bug is a great illustration that a well-handled potential disaster looks like “nothing happened” in retrospect. The fact that Y2K seemed to be a non-event is a testament to how seriously people took this emergency, and how everyone buckled down and averted a worldwide infrastructure disaster.</p><p>I started working at Honeywell Aerospace (AlliedSignal back then) in 1998, and by that time people were already working on Y2K issues. We were in the GPS navigation business, and there were real issues that would have caused aircraft navigation to go awry unless they were fixed.</p><p>People buckled down, found the bugs, ran simulations, got FAA sign-offs, and deployed the fixes to all affected aircraft well before Y2K. Thanks to the effort, “nothing happened”. But I assure you (bad) things would have happened if we did nothing. <a href="https://infosec.exchange/@tychotithonus/111670219441506220" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://infosec.exchange/@tychotithonus/111670219441506220</a></p></article><footer><a rel="bookmark" href="https://gnusocial.jp/conversation/2530438#notice-5008803">In conversation</a><time datetime="2024-01-02T14:33:11+09:00" title="Tuesday, 02-Jan-2024 14:33:11 JST">about 10 months ago</time> <span>from <span><a href="https://sfba.social/@drahardja/111683810166193489" rel="external" title="Sent from sfba.social via ActivityPub">sfba.social</a></span></span><a href="https://sfba.social/@drahardja/111683810166193489">permalink</a><h4>Attachments</h4><ol><li><article><header><div>No result found on File_thumbnail lookup.</div><h5><a href="https://infosec.exchange/@tychotithonus/111670219441506220">Royce Williams (@tychotithonus@infosec.exchange)</a></h5><div> from <span>Royce Williams</span></div></header><div>@robertatcara As someone who personally discovered and fixed Y2K bugs that would have had significant real world impact, it is disturbing to hear someone propagate this myth [that it was a "big fuss about nothing"]. And it is a myth.This is what really happened: 
https://time.com/5752129/y2k-bug-history/The testing methodology insured that these impacts were not hypothetical. At my company, the testing was performed by *actually rolling the clock forward* to test systems to see what would happen. For example, I discovered that every ATM in the state of Alaska operated by my company would have locked up until a PROM chip was swapped. Someone had to fly all over the state to proactively swap the chip beforehand, to avoid significant customer impact.And that was just one story. I personally oversaw investigation and fixes for other hardware and software at that company that would have failed.And that was just my company. I spoke with others in IT at that time with similar stories. And that was just the people I knew.So no, it wasn't "a big fuss about nothing" - and saying so is both dangerously revisionist, and disrespectful of the work it took to prevent real impacts.</div><footer></footer></article></li></ol></footer></blockquote>

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Dave Rahardja (he/him) (drahardja@sfba.social)'s status on Tuesday, 02-Jan-2024 14:33:11 JST Dave Rahardja (he/him)
The Y2K bug is a great illustration that a well-handled potential disaster looks like “nothing happened” in retrospect. The fact that Y2K seemed to be a non-event is a testament to how seriously people took this emergency, and how everyone buckled down and averted a worldwide infrastructure disaster.
I started working at Honeywell Aerospace (AlliedSignal back then) in 1998, and by that time people were already working on Y2K issues. We were in the GPS navigation business, and there were real issues that would have caused aircraft navigation to go awry unless they were fixed.
People buckled down, found the bugs, ran simulations, got FAA sign-offs, and deployed the fixes to all affected aircraft well before Y2K. Thanks to the effort, “nothing happened”. But I assure you (bad) things would have happened if we did nothing. https://infosec.exchange/@tychotithonus/111670219441506220
In conversationabout 10 months ago from sfba.socialpermalink
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  Royce Williams (@tychotithonus@infosec.exchange)
  from Royce Williams
  @robertatcara As someone who personally discovered and fixed Y2K bugs that would have had significant real world impact, it is disturbing to hear someone propagate this myth [that it was a "big fuss about nothing"]. And it is a myth. This is what really happened: https://time.com/5752129/y2k-bug-history/ The testing methodology insured that these impacts were not hypothetical. At my company, the testing was performed by *actually rolling the clock forward* to test systems to see what would happen. For example, I discovered that every ATM in the state of Alaska operated by my company would have locked up until a PROM chip was swapped. Someone had to fly all over the state to proactively swap the chip beforehand, to avoid significant customer impact. And that was just one story. I personally oversaw investigation and fixes for other hardware and software at that company that would have failed. And that was just my company. I spoke with others in IT at that time with similar stories. And that was just the people I knew. So no, it wasn't "a big fuss about nothing" - and saying so is both dangerously revisionist, and disrespectful of the work it took to prevent real impacts.

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