1999
The Millennium bug is taken seriously

The Millennium Bug is taken seriously by almost all industrialized countries.

Some organisations begin to fix errors found in programs that are related to calculations with dates, and to codes that could relate to leap years and the so-called signal codes (99 meant often end of record or file).

These actions are not to be laughed at with hindsight: those organisations which took action ended up with a big advantage over their competitors.  Old programs were cleaned out and modernised, allowing these companies to make a fresh start.  The Millennium Bug encouraged upgrades that might otherwise have take longer to implement.