Constraints on the processing capabilities of early computers, required that no more than two places be allocated to any one-date field. These developments are a direct result of rules that were created, and standards developed by the private and public sectors and followed across high tech industries. In other words, because the world's developers had used the two-digit date field in the past, to accommodate early limits on memory space, the users of technology, within industry, government and home users routinely found themselves continuing the convention. The Year 2000 issue is an issue to be solved by all of us for the benefit of all of us. Each software publisher faces unique challenges.
Software comes in many varieties, and performs a tremendously diverse universe of functions.
The Y2K issues associated with each of these functions are different, requiring tailored solutions. Because these situations are unique among all publishers, each will address its own user base accordingly. Confrontation through costly and resource wasting litigation is not the answer. Ideally, software publishers should be able to provide information regarding Year 2000 readiness of a company's own products without risk of liability for such disclosures, and thereafter make available fixes, patches, or upgrades that allow the consumer to confirm that their own systems are Year 2000 ready. Indeed, this is what most software publishers have been doing over the course of the last several years.