Does anyone know when the Y2k Bug was first mentioned in the main stream media (not a computer magazine/show)

-- Whitney (Y2K Whit@aol.com), December 20, 1998

Answers

Whitney,

CNN (or CNN's web site) did a story on Y2K dated January 7, 1996 called "The Year 2000 does not Compute". You can see it at this link:

http://cnn.com/TECH/9601/2000/index.html

Y2K was first covered on network evening news in April 1996. But coverage was extremely rare on the networks until 1998, when ABC Evening News started having a story on it about once a month.

Newsweek did a cover story on Y2K in the summer of 1997.

-- Kevin (mixesmusic@worldnet.att.net), December 20, 1998.

"The Day The World Shut Down: Can We Fix The 2000 Computer Bug Before It's Too Late" was the title of the Newsweek article. It was in the June 2, 1997 issue.

-- Kevin (mixesmusic@worldnet.att.net), December 20, 1998.

It think the Wired article this summer really got the ball rolling. The title was something like "What to do about Y2K"- Programmers say "Head for the Hills

-- Al Anon (al@anon.com), December 21, 1998.

I would have to vote for Wired article also. It led me to gary north's site, which led me here, which led me to buy the book. Unfortunately, when trying to make an old friend of mine who used to be a programmer aware of seriousness of the problem, I gave him gary north's link...which was strong for him, therefore he didnt research further. Oh well.

-- Nathan L. (Nate208900@aol.com), December 21, 1998.

Well I dont know if "WIRED" is main stream media or not? I know Computer magazines were talking about it for a long time - first time I remember seeing it in a computer magazine was 1995

The question I was asking - is when was the first time it was mentioned in a mainstream publication (like NY Times, newsweek or somethinng like that)

I'd also be interested to know when first time mentioned in a computer magazine as well (that info may be harder to find out)

Whitney

-- Whitney (Y2K Whit@aol.com), December 21, 1998.

DOOMSDAY 2000: ComputerWorld, September 6, 1993 was the first.

Author: Peter DeJager

It is located in his archives:www.year2000.com

-- Rob Michaels (sonofdust@net.com), December 21, 1998.

Whitney,

Another early Y2K story in a computer magazine was one in the February 1984 issue of Computerworld Magazine. One of their reporters did a story on a gentleman by the name of Bill Schoen who was trying to raise Y2K awareness.

http://www.freep.com/tech/nbug3.htm

The link above is to a recent article on Bill Schoen and about the 1984 Computerworld article.

-- Kevin (mixesmusic@worldnet.att.net), December 22, 1998.

Here's a direct link to the ground-breaking article by de Jager:

http://year2000.com/y2kdoomsday.html

-- Kevin (mixesmusic@worldnet.att.net), December 22, 1998.