Millennium Bug Essay, Research Paper
What Effect will the Millennium Bug have on Society?
Peoples talk about the Millennium Bug, but few really know what it is and how large an consequence is could hold. Virtually everything is our society is vulnerable, from H2O and electricity to our phone measures and nest eggs histories. The Millennium Bug is a design mistake dating back to the early yearss of computing machines and the manner they store clip and day of the month. When you turn on your computing machine it knows the clip and day of the month thanks to a built in clock which memorises the day of the month in the signifier of month/day/year. The job is that when we go from 99 to 00 many computing machines won & # 8217 ; t cognize whether this means the twelvemonth 1900, 2000 or the twelvemonth that the computing machine was created. This may do mayhem on society, particularly now we are so reliant on computing machines in our mundane lives. As a consequence the Millennium Bug may do major concerns in wellness, unemployment, our finance system and personal safety.
Life and decease state of affairss could originate as hospital systems such as, life support and machines used to supervise a patients critical marks are among the systems at hazard. Australian infirmaries believe that every bit many as 60 % of their machines may non work decently when the day of the month axial rotations over. Local testing has identified the ultrasound machines and cardinal proctors which have exhibited twelvemonth 2000 failures. There could be important menaces to personal safety, for illustration if an ultrasound wrongly calculated the size of a faetus or administered radiation therapy falsely. Besides people with bosom gait shapers could confront the possibility of them neglecting.
Bank histories could be wiped off the records and ATM & # 8217 ; s could get down cards thought to be expired. Computers commanding place loans could deprive Bankss off 1000000s of dollars by resetting mortgage refund plans back to 1900. Millions of dollars are being poured into rectification plans, by fiscal establishments. Now the Australian Stock Exchange will merely license traders with twelvemonth 2000 conformity. Another danger of the Millennium Bug is that those who are on the phone
during the switch over could be charged for a 99 twelvemonth phone call bing them anyplace up to $ 12,000,000.
Unemployment is one of the biggest jobs in society today and the Millennium Bug will do the state of affairs worse. Small to medium sized concerns
may shut when the clip bomb goes away, due to the deficiency of financess to forestall the bug. Corporations such as Telstra and AMP are besides looking at administrations that are non profitable plenty to pass the money on and will shut them down. As a consequence there could be broad dispersed unemployment and recession, non merely here in Australia but worldwide. Besides concerns merely wear & # 8217 ; t want to cough up money to repair something that hasn & # 8217 ; T happened yet.
Another major issue is the catastrophes the bug may do. Catastrophes could happen in the air if air traffic control systems fail. KLM Royal Dutch air hoses has said it will non wing to certain finishs during the alteration over period. Both QANTAS and Ansett have established squads to look at all plans operated by their computing machines. Neither expects their services to be disrupted. Airlines such as British air passages are so confident that the bug will hold no consequence on their systems, they are all traveling to wing in one of their planes during the alteration over period. On the land computing machine sequenced traffic visible radiations could hold traffic in convulsion causation accidents and breaks.
Merely as the clock is about to click over, everyone will be focused on Australia due to the clip difference. If the bug causes any sort of heartache Australia will be one of the first topographic points affected. So we could be passing millions of dollars universe broad for no ground or our computing machines could neglect and we could endure a fiscal and life endangering interrupt down. No 1 will cognize the bugs full power boulder clay January 1st 2000. We shouldn & # 8217 ; t worry merely yet because people such as Bill Gates are working on a solution a this really minute. Even though we have about 295 yearss till the bug goes off we shouldn & # 8217 ; Ts take it for granted, because we don & # 8217 ; t to the full understand it and that & # 8217 ; s when things can truly travel incorrect.
