Who can forget the Y2K problem, also known as the millennium bug. It was a computer programming bug that involved early computer systems that were designed to only use two digits for years, leading to the possibility of misinterpreting the year 2000 as 1900. Just a few short years from now, a bug known as Y2K38 is expected to cause the same issues in representing time for certain computers. If left unaddressed, these devices won’t be able to handle values of time past 03:14:07 UTC on January 19, 2038. Since computers have a finite memory, an integer (a whole number) can’t store an infinitely large value. At some point, too large of a value will overflow, with negative consequences like becoming a zero. That can bring the whole system down. What that means in layman’s terms is that only 64-bit operating systems will work, leaving the 32-bit systems broken. So, just like Y2K, vulnerable systems will have to be identified, and patches will have to be developed, tested, and applied before the big day. Most modern versions of Windows, including Windows 11 and Windows 10, are designed to be 64-bit systems, while Macs have been using 64-bit processors since 2007.
