Y2K czar John Koskinen said Thursday that the leap year rollover may only cause minor headaches, a disappointment for doomsayers who predicted Feb. 29 as one of the last chances for technological disaster brought on by the 2000 date change.
"We do not expect any significant problems," Koskinen said.
Leap year problems, like glitches caused by the 2000 date change, stem from programming errors and would mostly affect software. Because there are different ways to determine what constitutes a leap year, some programmers might have forgotten to write code to account for the additional day. This could cause problems for banking and payroll systems, as well as businesses calculating interest if computers cannot read the Feb. 29 date, Koskinen explained.
Because most businesses and government agencies already fixed possible leap year glitches while they dealt with other Y2K problems, any snags would be marginal, he added.
Still, the Y2K's Council's Information Coordination Center will begin monitoring the rollover on Monday, although efforts will be significantly scaled down compared to the Jan. 1 date change. Koskinen also will have regular conference calls with Y2K coordinators in countries such as Japan, Chile and the United Kingdom.
Just as with January rollover, Koskinen said he expects that the federal government will publicly acknowledge the most glitches because the private sector and other countries aren't as willing to report their problems.
Koskinen added that he did not think the leap year would invite hacking attacks since most systems will be monitored during the date change.
The Information Coordination Center is expected to shut its doors at the end of March. But before the last person goes home, Koskinen said he hopes to leave a detailed report on the outcome of both date changes.
"I'm a big believer in beginnings, middles and ends," he said.
NEXT STORY: Pay and Benefits Watch: Leave and let leave