Critical Y2K Dates for the Paranoid

© 1999 Lawrence I. Charters

Are you paranoid? Do you have Doubts? Do you think people are too trusting? Then you should do your own Y2K tests. Here are some critical dates:

• September 9, 1999: many lazy people enter distant future dates as 9/9/99. This will come back to haunt them on September 9, 1999, unless they make corrections before then.
• December 31, 1999: Party time! Set your computer to December 31, 1999, and 11:58 p.m. Then turn the computer off for five minutes. Then turn it on and hope you see --
• January 1, 2000: Among other things, make sure your computer thinks this is Saturday.
• January 3, 2000: the first business day of the year 2000. Let's hope your computer thinks it is Monday.
• January 10, 2000: the first day of the year 2000 with a double-digit day, and first one to require a seven-digit date field. Your computer should think it is Monday.
• February 28, 2000: Set your computer to February 28, 2000, and 11:58 p.m. Then turn the computer off for five minutes. Then turn it on and hope you see --
• February 29, 2000: Yes, the year 2000 is a leap year. Your computer should think it is Tuesday.
• March 1, 2000: Assuming your computer doesn't think it is February 30, it should think this is Wednesday.
• April 1, 2000: beginning of the second fiscal quarter for the year 2000. Your computer should think this is a Saturday. Be prepared for some really epic April Fool's Day pranks.
• July 1, 2000: beginning of the third fiscal quarter for the year 2000. Your computer should think it is a Saturday.
• October 1, 2000: beginning of the fourth fiscal quarter for the year 2000, and the beginning of the federal government's 2001 fiscal year. Your computer should think it is a Sunday. Fearless prediction: the federal budget will still be under debate in Congress.
• October 10, 2000: Chinese Independence Day, and the first day to require an eight-digit date field. Your computer should think this is a Tuesday.
• December 31, 2000: last day of the 20^th century. You'll be partying, so who cares what day it is?
• January 1, 2001: first day of the 21^st century. Your computer should think it is a Monday, but don't go to work: it is a holiday.
• September 8, 2001: many UNIX systems count days from an arbitrary beginning, and this date is day 999,999,999. HAL 9000 probably had problems on September 9, 2001...
• February 29, 2004: the first leap-year day of the 21^st century.

If you are running these tests on a Macintosh, you should be bored by now. If you don't have a Macintosh, you probably want to check them out; they are available in several flavors.

Revised March 7, 1999 Lawrence I. Charters
Washington Apple Pi
URL: http://www.wap.org/journal/