Many Are Invited

<p><strong>A housewarming party ends in tragedy. . . Steve Galanos a native Midwesterner reflects on his time in Northern California during the 1990s a time when the two-digit year emerged as the Y2K problem the burgeoning Internet fueled the expansion of the New Economy the dot-com bubble created unseen prosperity and real estate frenzies. Yet it's a housewarming party held in late 1999 that affects him the most.</strong></p><p>                                         </p><p>At the request of John Goertz a group of technology managers and executives gather in a conference room. Listening to the presentation is Steve Galanos who is suspicious of Goertz's approach and the dramatic way he describes the problem. Goertz tries to convince his audience that a disaster awaits them unless they immediately address the two-digit year in the company's distributed systems and compiled code. It's 1994 well before anyone has heard of the term <em>Y2K</em>.</p><p><br></p><p>A promotion to run the newly-created year 2000 compliance program earns John more skepticism and envy from Steve yet the two have much in common and soon become good friends. A few years later John leaves for a startup and their lives trend in different directions.</p><p><br></p><p>By the time John cashes out from a successful IPO gets married and buys a house in Los Gatos his friendship with Steve has waned. It's at John's housewarming party where latent animosity and lingering distrust finally come to a head.</p><p><br></p>