Computer systems over 5 years old have a 90 percent chance of not being Year 2000 compliant. Y2K compliance will take an average of 12 to 18 months of work. Ten percent of American companies will go bankrupt or simply put out of business as a result of the century date change. Five hundred million embedded chip systems will fail worldwide. Mississippi is one of 46 states that have authorized insurance companies to exclude claims from businesses sued for losses stemming from the year 2000 computer problem.
Insurance companies are fearful of the potential for costly lawsuits.
It could cause a collapse. The four remaining states, Alaska, Texas, Maine and Massachusetts, are also expected to grant permission for the exclusion. The glitch stems from the computer's inability to recognize a year as a four-digit number, such as 1998. To save space, programmers decades ago designed software and hardware devices to see years in dates as two digits, as in 98. In the year 2000, uncorrected computers will be unable to tell what year it is.