Doomsday 2000
Computerworld, 1993: Y2K 'More Devastating Than a Car Crash.' January 1, 2000 Was Mostly a Slow News Day
Peter de Jager's 'Doomsday 2000' warned of 'an event more devastating than a car crash'. The fixing that followed was real and expensive; the doomsday was not.
What was said
“The information systems community is heading toward an event more devastating than a car crash. We are heading toward the year 2000. We are heading toward a failure of our standard date format: MM/DD/YY.”
— Peter de Jager (Canadian computer consultant; 'Doomsday 2000', Computerworld) · said Sep 6, 1993 · due Saturday, January 1, 2000
Credit where due: the date bug was real, and he started the repair job. The 'Doomsday' in the headline did not arrive.
The Story
The article ran in Computerworld's September 6, 1993 issue under the headline 'Doomsday 2000' (SmarterMSP; Computerworld's own January 2000 timeline gives the issue as Sept. 16 and records his $75 billion repair estimate).
He estimated $75 billion to fix systems; SmarterMSP cites Gartner estimating up to $600 billion was eventually spent. Canadian angle: de Jager is a Canadian consultant. The famous Y2K doom entry is y2k-2000 (Gary North); this one is the warning that started it.
Later spin
De Jager and many engineers later argued the date passed quietly because of the remediation work his warning set off.
Receipts
- Pioneers in Tech: Peter de Jager, the oracle of Y2K - SmarterMSPaccessed 2026-10-09
- Some Key Facts and Events in Y2K History - Computerworld (Jan 3, 2000)accessed 2026-10-09
As of Oct 9, 2026
since it didn't happen
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