Oh man… 1999 may as well have been lifetimes ago. It was the year Prince looked forward to, a year of box televisions and clunky computers, and most importantly, it marked (what many feared was) the beginning of the end.

With New Year’s right around the corner, we figured it was the right time to dive into some memories of Y2K.

Y2K was a legitimate concern for millions of companies. If you don’t recall the issue,refresh yourself on the history of the problem before you read the rest of this article.

The night of December 31st, 1999, I recall my dad preparing our water barrels, MRE’s, and kerosene lamps… He was terrified of what could happen, as were millions of businesses and companies whose outdated equipment had the potential to malfunction or shut down.

But not everyone had a “bomb bunker” mentality about Y2K. To get another perspective, I interviewed the President of Summit Information Resources, Dick Noble. To give a little context, Summit was smaller in 1999, but was still a successful technology reselling company.

Me: “Let’s go back to 1999.”
Dick: “I was younger then… It’s kind of fun to go back!”

Dick went on to explain that it was a BIG year! Y2K was the talk of the year with all companies wondering/worried about the end results. Most companies were gearing up towards being prepared for Y2K. In fact, he recalls selling “Y2K compatible” equipment, and it was a big year for Summit Information Resources.

It was a big year for technology in general, with the first “dot com” boom. Everyone was flying high. Big companies in New York were flying in tech-savvy surfers from California on first class flights to entice them to work for their company. It was kind of ridiculous, looking back!

In 3 short years we had several huge events that affected our economy in different ways. First, we had Y2K, then the dot com bust, and then 9/11. None of these three events can be compared to one another, but each had its own toll.

There are whispers that many 32-bit computers will be wiped out in 2038, another dilemma similar to Y2K. But will computer and IT experts have a solution before that time? Hopefully and probably!