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Praise for Year 2000: The Inside Story of Y2K Panic and the Greatest Cooperative Effort Ever
“James’s book is interesting and filled with information. Year 2000 is a useful reminder that computers control all major human activities: banking, business, defense, entertainment, travel, and even medicine. Anyone who cares about the history and future of computers could profit by reading it.”
- Capers Jones, foremost national expert and strategist on Y2K compliance management and technical solutions
“Nancy James new book, Year 2000: The Inside Story of Y2K Panic, tells the inside story of all that went into the problem and its eventual solution. It is a must read for all who want to understand the cautions of the information technology world we are fast entering.”
- Jon Huntress
“A rich and fascinating account of the Y2K issue, which provides a unique window into how the technology and business ecosystem came together to address and resolve a problem of epic size and complexity. The book also references the little known but critical part played by the risk management and insurance community in raising attention and supporting a successful resolution.
Nancy's book is exhaustively researched and brings together a wealth of sources and information on this topic. Her approach makes the subject both accessible and compelling. This book has profound implications today, as the world is far more technology-dependent now than it was at the threshold of Y2K - and there are likely comparable systemic problems out there for us to discover and resolve.”
- Dominic Davison-Jenkins
Year 2000: The Inside Story of Y2K Panic and the Greatest Cooperative Effort Ever
by Nancy P. James
Now available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Walmart, and Thriftbooks!
The new millennium. The Year 2000. Beyond Mayan prophecies, a more immediate danger loomed: Two-digit year date fields had been used by software programmers for decades to conserve expensive computer storage space. As a consequence, legacy systems reading “00” on January 1, 2000 would most probably interpret the date as 1900. Infrastructures critical to civilization—including heat, electricity, water and sanitation—were at risk, all complete unknowns. There was fear of an accidental nuclear arms deployment. There was fear of monetary systems being jeopardized, infrastructure collapse, internet security failures, and interruption of government-provided social programs. Banks experienced massive cash withdrawals while law firms worked overtime to develop novel litigation plans. Insurance enterprises worried.
Year 2000: The Inside Story of Y2K Panic shares the untold story of the actors operating on the global stage responsible for managing computer hardware and software for Year 2000 compliance, thus keeping national infrastructures, finance, and commerce functioning. It turned out that the world did not end January 1, 2000. In fact, most people rang in the new year with the perception that nothing happened at all. This positive outcome was not a stroke of luck, nor was it because people overestimated or exaggerated Y2K risk. It was only possible because people across industries, from legal clerks to programmers to President Bill Clinton himself, worked tirelessly to offset disaster. But the Millennium did not pass completely harmlessly: it turns out that the United States, for a brief period, lost all satellite reconnaissance at 7:00 PM EST, December 31, 1999 (midnight GMT 01/01/2000). As a leading consultant and speaker on the challenges of Y2K during the lead-up to the new millennium, author Nancy P. James was directly involved in preparation for Y2K on the local and global stage. Using first-person experience, primary source documents outlining Y2K issues, anxieties, and the actions, influences, opinions, and strategies of those involved, James reveals the untold story of the behind-the-scenes scramble that made Y2K – seemingly – come and go, and offers stark lessons on how the global community can unite to face problems that challenge our world at large. James tells the contemporaneous story of those national and international Y2K actors who at the time did not know the outcome of the Year 2000 computer problem.