Why Can't Programmers Make Up Their Minds About Y2000

by Ed Yourdon

A Canadian radio talk-show host called me a few days ago, asking if I would participate in a "live" debate about the Y2000 problem. She had found a programmer who was willing to argue that Y2000 would be "no big deal," and she was hoping that I would articulate the gloom-and-doom, "end of the world" position. I decided not to participate, largely because of the confusion I thought it would create in the minds of the audience. I could just imagine a typical listener muttering to himself, "If these computer geeks can't even agree about the seriousness of Y2000, how on earth is anyone else going to figure it out?"

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Why Can't Programmers Make Up Their Minds About Y2000 16 September 1998