Take a breather. Reminisce on some of 2000's earth-shaking technology events. These three events I have chosen, I feel, are the ones that made the most impact both here and abroad not just on the IT community but on the Filipino public as a whole.

(1) The bug that didn't bite. The IT doomsday bug crept into the minds of all walks of life. A computer glitch that wouldn't be able to recognize the year 2000 was predicted to wreak havoc around the world, including the possibility that nuclear missiles would be automatically launched between the rollover dates Dec. 31, 1999 and Jan.1, 2000 and target preprogrammed strategic sites of perceived enemy states.

At the very least, the Millennium Bug was feared to cause malfunctions on other mission-critical areas heavily dependent on computers.

Naturally, laymen (and women) took care of the practical translations of this technical snafu. Scenarios of panic buying, panic bank withdrawals, traffic lights failing, airplane guidance systems suddenly going blind, life support systems of hospitals and other basic services halting to a complete stop became the hot topic in trimedia. Some extremists even suggested trekking to the mountains to move as far away as possible from the vulnerable urban jungle that would end courtesy of the Y2K time bomb.

The global paranoia caused by the Millennium Bug generated one of the most extensive human resource mobilizations in recent memory. IT personnel, programmers and Y2K staff from all countries, in all mission-critical sectors and companies all over the world, raced against time. The United States, probably the most IT-dependent nation in the world, was reported to have spent roughly half the world's total Y2K repair costs, or about $365 for each American citizen.

Shortly after the first sunrise of 2000 in the Philippines, everyone's first serious activity was to look into their bank accounts. Then rollover reports came in: from London to Tokyo to the Americas: the Bug failed to stop New Year revelers from withdrawing cash. Y2K bug exterminators declared victory. But some were disappointed. Where were the chaos, the riots, the crashes that would have made the battle and the victory sweeter? Then extremists accused the Bug, and its creators, as being the biggest hoaxes of the century.

Let's just wait for the next millennium virus to attack.

(2) "ILOVEYOU" makes the world go round. The ILOVEYOU worm or Love Bug (which went wild in May) was estimated to have caused damages worth more than $1 billion, and was perceived to have been the fastest propagating and most widely spread computer virus to date. It appeared as an ILOVEYOU e-mail greeting paired by an attachment under various names such as "LOVE-LETTER-FOR-YOU." Embedded in the message were the words "Manila, Philippines" and (sic) "I hate go to school."

By now, everyone knows where the virus came from and who created it. It placed the country at the center of media scrutiny and into the global antivirus radar screens of developed nations. The United States Federal Bureau of Investigation launched an international hunt for the source of the Love Bug, with their eyes keen on a certain Onel de Guzman, 24 years old and a former student of the AMA Computer College. He became a likely suspect after professors noticed similarities between his thesis proposal and the virus. Internet Service Providers also traced the virus to a telephone line in a friend’s home.

Lack of applicable IT and computer laws, as well as insufficient evidence, forced government prosecutors to dismiss the charges against De Guzman. Although the Electronic Commerce (E-commerce) law was signed in June, it could not be applied retroactively to the Love Bug incident, which happened a month earlier.

De Guzman, the most likely creator of the ILOVEYOU virus, got away scot-free. And the rest of the world could do nothing but sigh in disappointment. They were taken in by a "warm greeting" from one of the "friendliest" races in the world. And they paid for it with their hard disks.

(3) The e-commerce bill that barely made it. After mounting pressure from the Philippine cyberspace community and the IT press, and after that infamous stint with the ILOVEYOU virus, came the passage of the e-commerce bill into law. The community rejoiced as President Estrada signed June 14 in Malacañang the so-called landmark legislation. The e-commerce law was declared as the legal framework that would protect electronic or online transactions and its legal consumers and practitioners. With the signing of the bill into law, the Philippines became the fifth country in Asia--after Singapore, Malaysia, Korea and India--to have an e-commerce law. The e-commerce law also made electronic documents admissible as evidence in court.

This in turn sparked many a "dotcom" uprising, with businesses turning to online ventures, armed with a law to protect them and dreams which were sowed in Silicon Valley. Although some of these dreams turned into nightmares shattered by an economic correction to end the euphoria in the tech stock market, many Filipinos are still looking for that killer app and business model that would hopefully turn their dreams into cold, hard cash.

So there you have it. My top three nominees for story of the year for 2000. There may be many more, and undoubtedly more are still to come, and for sure you’ll read about it soon, hopefully here at the Inquirer.