>>There were some problems, that I know, like those you mention.<<
"Some" problems? You still don't get it. The problems were widespread, hitting everyone at the same time, and large sums were spent to deal with it. This caused a major shortage of IT people in the US during the late 1990s, with thousands brought over from India on H-1B visas to fill the gap.
As I said, Y2K was a typical example of a "limit" problem. We face these all the time in IT, but usually not simultaneously across all organizations. Suppose my legacy system's DBMS (data base management system) is XYZ version 6.1, and it can handle a maximum of 16 million records in one file. My journal file currently holds 14.5 million records, and I estimate it will max out in 9 months.
So before I hit the limit I have to upgrade my DBMS to XYZ 7.0, which requires a lengthy round of software modifications and testing. This is an absolute requirement that overrides everything else in the organization. The latest federal mandate, the director's pet project, and the entire 3-year backlog of user requests are all totally subordinate to this objective. It must be done, and it gets done.
BTW, XYZ 7.0 handles a maximum of 32 million records. So at the current exponential rate of data growth I'll face the problem again in a few years. Maybe this time I'll get management to pony up for a fancy new modern system. |
