Y2K Commercial
83,832
Published 2006-11-27
For those that aren't familiar with Y2K, it was a panic (and an industry) that existed the several years prior to the year 2000. A lot of software was lazily written using two-digit dates (19[XX]) and people either didn't realize or didn't care what the ramifications would be in the new millennium. Suddenly, the software industry was going nuts with concern that suddenly a few key areas of software would crash once the date rolled-over.
This was a problem principally found in software written using the COBOL language, which encouraged two-digit dates (see homepages.wmich.edu/~rea/Y2K/FAQ.html). Since mainframe software was the largest use-case of COBOL, the industries that used mainframes (like banks and airlines) were the most vulnerable to crashing. It's worth mentioning that COBOL's popularity peaked in the seventies and it was never expected that COBOL would still be around/used in the 90s (it's an unpleasant and archaic language). Such decisions were made with time-management assuming that it'd never test the millennial boundary. But, it did. Such is a lesson in ethical programming: Write responsibly and prudently even if something isn't supposed to happen.
The people that panicked were right to do so, but, fortunately, people went to work, hard, and a lot of companies popped up that were dedicated to evaluating software that could be vulnerable. In the end, companies were able to sufficiently clean-up their software that nothing really significant happened, though I believe I heard that a couple of banks' ATMs, somewhere in the world, might've gone on the blink.
It wasn't considered unreasonable for people to stock some canned food and water, just in case people lost power, gas, or banks for a little bit following the rollover. Even though it would've been a major crisis, the lack of anything substantial happening was a major letdown for the majority of people (at least most kids and nontechnical adults) after such a lengthy period of enormous build-up.
All Comments (21)
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Just a normal day in New York.
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It's like watching a GTA 5 online trailer.
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Y2K = End of the World = JUST DO IT = Nikes It's Logic!
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A lot of people though power would go out across the world and civilization would collapse. I was 19 and I actually quit my job because they wanted me to work on New Year's Eve, and I didn't want to be stuck at a cash register when the lights go out and the looters start shooting up the store. I began the new millennium watching Twilight Zone reruns instead. I was actually kind of disappointed nothing happened.
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Literally me in pandemic right now
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Nike is a savage.
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I was born 2 days before y2k which is when I was scheduled for. Also an interesting fact was y2k did happen to the coffee machine my dad and mom were using while at the hospital. It was one of the few machine that malifuntioned.
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ah, the 90's.
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I was only one when y2k scare was big I can just remember my mom crying because she thought the world was going to end
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As I keep on watching all these videos about the Y2K, i keep on wondering... why didn't the world "end"? The proof is freaking' right there! 2000: The world did not end. 2012: The world did not end.
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Damn this was posted on 2006. That year was my CHILDHOOD, damn I miss the 1990's and the 2000's.
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The whole fear of Y2K was a bit over the top, but I can understand the reasons why people were freaked out.
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This commercial caused me sooo much stress. lol I was 17 in 1999 and I was so freaked out about Y2K lol
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lol @ the ICBM flying randomly in the air.
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I hadn't realized that so many people weren't so familiar with the underpinnings of why this was a problem. I expanded the description to include a brief history of Y2K.
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This has a great message. Though the world go to hell, I shall remain unmoved. Thanks nike June, 2022
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LOL I love this commercial! Even though I didn't expirience Y2K because I was born that year, this still doesn't keep me and my parents to like this :)
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HAPPY NEW YEAR!! 2012 it will be swell.
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another day in cleveland, OH.
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Holy shit was everyone really freaking out this much over this Y2K disaster? Wish I was there so I could laugh at everyone haha
