The concise history of Y2K - the year that never was

The year 2000 brought much innovation, if not as much invention, to the banquet of available IT products and services. Some changes were radical, while others had long been anticipated.

[VIDEO]The year was rung in on a low note, starting with post-Y2K depression and soul-searching within companies. Management demanded to know why millions had been spent on what turned out to be a non-event, while vendors sought to reassure them that their hard work and plenty of money had averted global disaster.

But despite claims of long-term gains and an increased awareness of date-related bugs, the dawn of 2001 saw Norwegian trains refusing to run and American 7-Eleven stores unable to accept credit cards, as computers assured frustrated sales clerks that credit had no place in 1901, despite the reported $8.8 million the chain spent on Y2K preparations.

Millennium Edition did not receive an overly-excited welcome, but Windows 2000 was hailed as a chance to finally bring stability to the average corporate desktop.

Jason Norwood-Young, Technology editor, ITWeb

Making the most of the millennium, Microsoft released its Windows 2000 and Windows Millennium Edition operating systems, managing to spell the latter correctly despite a flaw in MS Office 97, which accepted "millenium" as a perfectly legitimate English word.

Millennium Edition or ME did not receive an overly-excited welcome, but Windows 2000 was hailed as a chance to finally bring stability to the average corporate desktop.

The open source community was not to be converted by Windows 2000, however, and celebrated the start of 2001 with the release of version 2.4 of the Linux kernel.

Last year saw mainstream support for Linux, in one form or another, announced by the likes of IBM, Intel, EMC, Computer Associates, Compaq and Hewlett-Packard. Other news, such as a planned supercomputer based on the system, further boosted its credibility, while the commercial achievement of Linux-focused companies like Red Hat and Caldera also played a part in the general success.

While Sun Microsystems did not embrace Linux at the expense of its Solaris operating system, it did take up the open source flag, releasing the source code of Solaris and the StarOffice suite.

The year saw personal digital assistants (PDAs) progress from expensive and clunky diaries to sleek beauties incorporating sound and networking technologies, as well as moves towards the "single device" world. While traditional PDA-makers moved to support or even incorporate mobile phones, manufacturers such as Ericsson, Samsung and Sony produced cellphones with PDA capabilities. Nokia extended the capabilities of its Communicator, and LG Electronics introduced a combined MP3 player/digital camera, proving there were few limits to the extent of convergence.

The promise of the Bluetooth wire-replacement technology took this convergence one step further, allowing the design (if not yet the commercial availability) of devices that can leverage off one another`s technical features. Soon, we are told, one device will be used to access many more in the same vicinity, producing the effects of a converged device. With such virtually converged devices, it is not inconceivable that Bluetooth will slow down the actual amalgamation of devices over coming years.

In contrast, long-range wireless technology did not live up to expectation during the year, with Wireless Access Protocol (WAP) widely decried as an industry-perpetrated fraud. While information providers and even mobile commerce providers set up shop to take advantage of the predicted growth in WAP usage, users were not impressed by the lethargic speeds experienced on first and second generation cellular networks, and use remained confined to early adopters and other masochists.

While faster transmission is promised by underlying technologies such as the general packet radio system (GPRS) and, eventually, third-generation networks, alternatives such as the short message service-based wireless Internet gateway (WIG) technique developed by MTN created a stir in the industry.

Despite the achievement of the milestone 1GHz central processing unit (CPU) chip as a result of the continuing war between Intel and AMD, much of 2000`s chip-limelight was stolen by Transmeta, which turned its ultra-secretive behaviour into a media frenzy with the release of the Crusoe chip. While Transmeta saw some of its chips recalled due to fatal flaws, much of the support for it remained unflagging due to names such as Linus Torvalds and Paul Allen on the staff list.

AMD`s increasing pressure on Intel, with its Athlon line leading the charge, saw the once-dominant processor company slipping from its podium. While the Pentium 4 saw a low-key introduction compared to the launch of its predecessor, it does give Intel the possibility to again achieve its former status.

End-users were the real winners of the chip war this year, especially with the introduction of AMD`s Duron, and improvements in the performance of Intel`s Celeron, both targeted at the value-conscious buyer. Prices of entry-level machines continue to drop, but not at the cost of performance.

Intel`s RAMBus did not deliver on its predicted price drop, forcing a change in Intel`s roadmap for the latter-half of last year. The company came under heavy press fire for pushing RAMBus, both due to the inflated price and the lack of promised performance.

The predicted slaughter among new dot-com stocks saw the once overwhelming flow of venture capital slow to a trickle, and during the latter part of 2000 technology listings slowed as investors proved skittish.

That left dot-coms still clinging to non-profit revenue models little hope of survival, and layoffs become common, especially on the Internet content business side. Others sought to stay afloat in different ways, such as a free weblog hosting firm which appealed to users for donations.

The local market ran into similar problems, and in September Metropolis abandoned its vertical communities after admitting that its business model was not sustainable. Yet the newly created Johnnic eVentures division continued to pour money into its Internet sites, with wide ranging acquisitions showing its belief in the future.

A drop in American interest rates early in 2001 provided all the impetus needed for a revival on the Nasdaq, but the markets soon flattened again and experts have little faith in a sustainable upswing.

In June 2000, the American federal government and several states claimed victory in its battle against Microsoft, when a court ruled the company had to be broken in two to release its stranglehold on the software market.

While launching its appeal, Microsoft also turned to the general public for support with a marketing campaign calling the anti-trust action "anti-innovation" and printing t-shirts with that message. It also had some success in continuing to delay any action on the judgement.

But with oral arguments expected to resume in February, time is running out, and the company initiated subtle changes to prepare itself for a worst-case scenario.

Equally important in the public imagination was Bill Gates`s announcement that Steve Ballmer will take over the reins as CEO - a move which did little to shift the media spotlight from Gates.

The other big legal news of the year was the recording industry`s battle against Napster and MP3.com, as the industry fought to suppress technologies that made nonsense of copyright law enforcement. Bertelsmann sucking Napster up into its corporation was a surprising result, although not all of the music industry backs the move.

This lack of closure was typical of a year that started with a non-event, and seemed to be waiting for some dramatic change that never came. If any of the survivalists that predicted Y2K doom and destruction really did lock themselves in their cellars for the year, I believe that they did not miss much.

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