>Well, you are right, 2001 is indeed the first year of the next millenium. Arthur C Clarke knew that :-). What's happened is that the masses and the pollies (Aus. for politician) can't cope with the concept, after all 2000 has got the "20" in it. Anyway, all the big parties (including the official ones) are planned for 31/12/99! We who know better can celebrate twice!

Of course, it's all completely arbitrary anyway. We might as well start counting from 1 January, 1980. That's the date most PC BIOS's use. I think it makes more sense to celebrate the start of 2000. It's like when your odometer rolls over. You wouldn't get excited about it hitting 100001 miles even if it started at 1.