Y2K was the biggest hoax ever foisted on the world. Responsible computer <hardware> professionals tried to tell people this was not a real issue. It was started be a few software geeks who had non-compliant systems and it was the end of the world for them if it wasn't fixed but it was never going to have any real effect on the world at large.
We kept forgetting the milions of people who were going to show up at work and to what they always do, even if the computer was saying something strange.
The reality was, virtually every process was tested and tested and tested again.
The stupidest things were the "embedded proceesors" like the one in your car, that people said were going to crash. They don't know what day it is, nor do they really care.
