Along with heated exchanges about whether Y2K will bring apocalyptic doom or merely global economic chaos, the Internet is buzzing with a more mundane but no less passionate debate: is it really the start of a new millennium?
Actually, no, based on the Gregorian calendar - which is why the constant barrage of the word "millennium" in advertising and the media seems to be upsetting a growing number of critics.
"We kept hearing from people who were everything from a little miffed to downright angry about all the media hype about the new millennium," said Mr Larry Smith, co-founder of a Web site http:// www.m321.com that bills itself as the Official Web Site of the New Millennium.
"We were getting teachers from schools saying, `How do we get the word out because we're teaching our children wrong'," Mr Smith said.
He and Web site co-founder Mr James Iacobucci conducted a global online survey that suggests most people - at least those logging on at their site - are aware the millennium actually begins on January 1st, 2001, they said.
At last count, 84 per cent of the more than 8,700 people who responded correctly chose 2001 as the start of the third millennium, despite all the hype to the contrary, according to Mr Smith. "Underneath this surface of marketing there is a population of people that are not buying into it," he said.
Prof Jay DeSarte of Florida Atlantic University, decided to set up his own page on the millennium confusion at http://members.aol.com/JADPhD/newmill.html after browsing message boards on America Online and seeing countless messages posted trying to set things straight.
"I thought, `Why don't we just have one place to direct people where they can read it so we don't have to constantly repeat ourselves'," said Dr DeSarte, who added that the issue might not be of great importance but it was irritating. The Royal Greenwich Observatory and United States Naval Observatory have also put the facts of the matter on their sites at http://www.rog.nmm.ac.uk/leaflets/new-mill.html and http://aa.usno.navy.mil/AA/faq/docs/millennium.html, respectively.