With so much anticipation at its peak, the Y2K problem has proved itself anticlimactic this New Year’s weekend.

Sunday, January 02, 2000

With so much anticipation at its peak, the Y2K problem has proved itself anticlimactic this New Year’s weekend. Quite a scare has haunted thoughts for some time over the predictions of problems accompanying the turn of the millennium.

But despite all of the fears of disaster this weekend, Austin, the state, the country and apparently the world have pulled through so far unharmed.

Austin Medical Center officials reported that as of yet, there are "no significant problems – very minor if anything."

But many businesses in town have yet to even attempt to discover any of their Y2K problems. One of the inconveniences of the turn of the millennium is that it had to take place on a Saturday, when most employees who operate possible Y2K-affected technology are home enjoying the weekend. Even though some computers have yet to prove themselves problem-free, it is becoming evident that most of our New Year’s jitters over technological disaster were for nothing. Of course, the lack of Y2K problems is not by chance.

To provide Austin with a problem-free New Year’s weekend, a lot of precautions and troubleshooting has taken place.

Ever since the discovery of upcoming millennium problems, remedies have been constantly forthcoming and utilized. Austin Utilities are experiencing no problems, though the New Year has arrived, because they have become "perfectly Y2K compliant," said Tom Kitzmen, a turbine operator, on New Year’s Day.

"Everything went well. This day has been totally uneventful," Kitzmen said.

But the utilities’ preparation goes even farther than having assured Y2K compliancy by keeping a turbine on the line. Even if Austin had experienced an unexpected black-out at midnight, this engine would have immediately fixed the situation.

The Austin Fire Department proved well-prepared as well when they experienced no Y2K problems this weekend. Shift Commander Ted Gilbertson said, "We didn’t expect any. We had done our homework."

That’s especially good, as Fire Chief Dan Wilson had been in charge of making sure there would be no millennium-sparked troubles in Austin.

The rest of Austin did it’s duty as well. In agreement with the Fire Department, the Austin Police Department also reported no problems.

Whatever computer programmers were thinking when they chose two digits instead of four to represent the year, the problems caused by that choice, although potentially large, seem to be relatively small. Perhaps a few random ATM machines are temporarily out of order here and there, but the major damages that so many feared have not occurred.

Statewide

Around the state, people responsible for Minnesota’s essential services searched in vain Friday for evidence of Y2K disruptions, and as the clock rolled over to the new year it appeared that months and even years of rewriting computer code had paid off.

”News flash tonight: Government works,” Charlie Weaver, the state public safety commissioner, said a few minutes after midnight.

Phone, water and power all seemed to be in order.

At the special state government operations center in downtown St. Paul where Weaver spoke, status reports were beginning to trickle in from the state’s 87 counties and no problems had emerged.

The state hoped to have all counties accounted for by 1 a.m., but counties had been told to call immediately if they had problems.

”In typical Minnesota fashion, we banded together and got the job done,” Gov. Jesse Ventura said, in a 1 a.m. briefing at the St. Paul center.

Northern States Power, the biggest power provider in Minnesota, also pronounced itself trouble-free after the rollover. The company said it spent $24 million getting ready.

”Tonight I’m pleased to report that we’ve made good on that New Year’s resolution,” chief executive Jim Howard said. ”The lights are on, the gas is flowing and this is truly a happy new year.”

An emergency hotline for people to report Y2K problems had logged 119 calls by 1 a.m., but most were from people wondering whether their toilet would flush at midnight, whether their car would start, and even what the ”K” in ”Y2K” meant. Officials decided to shut the hotline down at 1:30 a.m., instead of keeping it open all night as planned.

”People can go home today and flush with impunity,” joked Ted Mondale, the Metropolitan Council chairman and one of six state commissioners at the St. Paul center.

Worldwide

Worldwide, the new millennium dawned Saturday morning and the world’s computers hummed along as if it were just another day, the feared Y2K bug barely noticeable.

”It’s like the systems knew we’re on the watchout,” said Sergiu Iliescu, in charge of the rollover in Romania, which reported even fewer incidents than usual in the country’s ill-equipped computer industry.

The Pentagon disclosed today that it was unable to process information from a reconnaissance satellite system Friday night because of a Y2K computer glitch on the ground. A French defense satellite system also lost the ability to detect equipment failure after midnight, although it still was operating.

Only a few other sporadic glitches popped up today, while experts warned that it could take days, weeks or months before problems are discovered.

From nuclear power plants to ATMs to airplanes, few problems surfaced as the year 2000 began in the South Pacific and swept west before ending in the American Samoa.

”The Mouse That Didn’t Roar,” read a headline in today’s Bangkok Post.

”I’m honest enough to say I’d rather have spent the night home with my family,” said a tired Gerhard Barth, head of information systems at Dresdner Bank. ”But we’re happy that everything was so boring.”

Still, the millennial bug – a simple computer glitch when the date changes from 1999 to 2000 – was responsible for a few problems.

A computer linked to radiation monitoring devices at a Japanese nuclear plant failed, but officials said it wasn’t considered serious enough to shut the plant. Ticketing machines on some buses in Australia briefly jammed. Forecasting maps at the French weather service initially got the New Year Day date as ”01/01/19100.” Eight hundred slot machines shut down at a Delaware horse track. Taxi meters broke down in a China province.

Three dialysis machines stopped functioning in Egypt hospitals, but the problem was quickly fixed.

Experts warned there remained a potential for damage.

”It’s always dangerous in the first several hours after an event to be drawing firm conclusions about what’s happened. I personally would like to wait a couple of days,” said Norman Dean, executive director for the Center for Y2K and Society in Washington.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.