To store data and pass dates between systems, two-digit year representation must be replaced. Businesses, governments, and organizations have already spent millions to eradicate the Y2K problem and they have hardly scratched the surface. Many of the software problems exist in programs that were written in computer languages seldom used in the 1990s. Each line of code must be examined and rewritten, if necessary, to prevent errors. The effort to locate experienced workers and train new ones is time consuming and expensive.
Competent troubleshooters have more work than they can handle.
And the clock is ticking. Some say it will. Year 2000 is a unique and unprecedented economic event. Previous jolts to the economy, like the Gulf War and the oil price shocks of the 1970s, were surprises. But Year 2000 is the first economic disaster to arrive on a schedule.