I'm not a fan of the "if we flatten the curve on COVID-19 and stop catastrophe, then our efforts will seem like an overreaction, just like y2k" thing, because y2k predictions in the media WERE an overreaction with planes falling from the skies and ATMs spitting out money, etc.
That was never going to happen, and journalists then simply didn't understand the nuance of how code fails. But the bad stuff predictions *now* are just what's already happening in Iran and China! So y2k, media-wise, feels like a misleading comparison. This threat is real.
My job in 1999 was to travel across the country with the government's Emergency Preparedness Canada division, updating their computers. We were patching Windows 98 so things would keep working. We were not worried about plane engines just turning off at midnight
ps: geez remember when we were running mission-critical software on Windows 98?? :0
