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Why the Web Will Crash in the Year 2000
Many people predicted computer problems in the year 2000. This problem, aptly named the Y2K problem, dealt with the fact that many older computer software packages stored dates as two digit numbers. Instead of storing 1975 as the number 1975, the year was stored as merely '75'. Once Y2K occured, years needed to be stored as four-digit numbers. Software that continues to use two digit numbers may not know whether the year is 1900 or 2000.
What about when we hit the year 10,000, and we get the Y10K problem? But, I digress. Similarly, the web will falter in the year 2000. The web will come to a crashing halt. It won't, however, be because of the Y2K problem.
It will be all of those political ads that clog the Internet.
To those who don't know (be you in America or overseas), the year 2000 is a presidential election year. Even though statistics show fewer Americans vote, they definitely do not show fewer politicians advertise. If things continue, as they seem, there are going to be a whole lot of political advertisements on websites. These will not be the original garden-variety 10-20k graphic banners, but big, full-blown Java applets(s) saying why one candidate is synonymous with America, Mom, and Apple Pie, and why the other candidate would be a bad choice for American families.
How can I make such bold predictions? Look at the facts.
First - remember all of the fuss that occurred when a certain front-running presidential candidate claimed that he was responsible, in part, for creating the Internet?
Second - according to wire reports, George W. Bush bought dozens of anti-Bush websites. I'm sure those sites didn't sell cheap, and it proves presidential candidates have a lot of money.
Third - reports continue to appear extolling the virtues of interactive ads featuring Shockwave, Java, and JavaScript. Many reports say that while interstitial ads annoy many people, they also cause many more click-throughs than standard ads. Don't you believe presidential campaign committees are reading these reports? And, if they have a lot of money, aren't they going to exert influence over many sites?
Tons of these network and file system-hogging advertisements may bog down a lot of websites. They also may crash a lot of browsers not used to displaying such interactive media. We will have computers crashing, networks clogging, and mass chaos and panic in the streets.
Well, maybe I'm exaggerating just a little...
So, in the coming year and a half, if you are viewing your favorite website and suddenly you hear "The Star Spangled Banner" in the background, don't turn to your radio or CD player - it probably is coming from a website advertisement.
[Editors note: Like many websites, MalekTips relies heavy on advertisements. We are undecided whether or not to allow political advertisements on our site. But if we do - this article is just warning ya'].
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