2011: The dark year of IT?

The year 2011 has certainly not been easy. Especially in IT, a number of bad things happened. For us, the IT community this caused shock, sadness, stomach ulcers and collective facepalming. Let's recap...

January: News of critical faults in Intel's new Sandy Bridge processors create a shortage of new servers.
February: the Arab Spring is in now full motion. We watch in shock and awe grainy internet livestreams from our cozy armchairs while people battle against regimes and military. Multiple disruptions shake the internet while said regimes try to censor networks. Crude oil prices rise more than 20% within two weeks.
March: Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami in Japan, Fukushima nuclear desaster. Apart from the humanitarian catastrophy, many electronic companies worldwide have to shut down production due to lack of parts.
March: Paul Baran dies.
May: Willard Sterling Boyle dies.
July: Space Shuttle Atlantis lands for the last time, effectively ending the U.S. ability for manned space flight.
October: The CCC releases detailed information about the "Bundestrojaner" (german governments trojan horse) and how it violates the basic rights of the german constitution.
October: The major floods in Thailand begin. Many people die or become homeless. All major harddisk producers loose their production plants.
October: Steve Jobs dies.
October: Dennis Ritchie dies.
October: John McCarthy dies. ((the inventor of Lisp)

I don't know about you, but for me 2011 is certainly the low point of this century so far. What do you think?

Anyone have any ideas how we can save this year?

Don't use '#ff0000':
use Acme::AutoColor; my $redcolor = RED();
All colors subject to change without notice.

Comment on 2011: The dark year of IT?

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: 2011: The dark year of IT? by ww (Archbishop) on Dec 12, 2011 at 16:58 UTC
Well, almost any year could provide events for a compilation like this. So, herewith, some answers which, almost, could become the starting point for a poll. Final release of Perl 6 version 2.0 Beta testing completed on the universal anti-spam project Perl 5.18 released, bug free December: Many share the joys of their holiday season(s) with others ...(your selection(s) here)...	[reply]
Re: 2011: The dark year of IT? by moritz (Cardinal) on Dec 12, 2011 at 17:36 UTC
It doesn't look worse than any other year to me, really. I personally found the year that Oracle bought Sun (2009? 2010?) worse. Influential people die all the time; in IT less so far because it's such a young field, but that will change and the number of important will rise rather than fall. On the plus side, we've seen great releases of Perl 5 and Perl 6 implementations, of postgresql and countless other great software projects, successful IPOs of IT companies etc. "Always look on the bright side of life!" Perl 6 - second systems done right	[reply]
Re^2: 2011: The dark year of IT? by cavac (Prior) on Dec 12, 2011 at 17:42 UTC
On the plus side, we've seen great releases of Perl 5 and Perl 6 implementations, of postgresql and countless other great software projects, successful IPOs of IT companies etc. That is certainly true. Seen from that viewpoint, it certainly looks much better. "Always look on the bright side of life!" Don't say that! Now i can't get that song out of my ear! Do'h! ;-) Don't use '#ff0000': use Acme::AutoColor; my $redcolor = RED(); All colors subject to change without notice.	[reply]
Re: 2011: The dark year of IT? by CountZero (Bishop) on Dec 13, 2011 at 07:11 UTC
I don't know about you, but for me 2011 is certainly the low point of this century so far. What do you think? Only barely a bit more than 10% of this century is past us, so don't despair: plenty more time to achieve even deeper points! For me the worst (in IT, that is) that could happen is that Prof. Donald Knuth dies before he can finish his "The Art of Computer Programming" series of books. I hope he takes his vitamins regularly and eats his vegetables. CountZero A program should be light and agile, its subroutines connected like a string of pearls. The spirit and intent of the program should be retained throughout. There should be neither too little or too much, neither needless loops nor useless variables, neither lack of structure nor overwhelming rigidity." - The Tao of Programming, 4.1 - Geoffrey James	[reply]
Re: 2011: The dark year of IT? by JavaFan (Canon) on Dec 12, 2011 at 18:58 UTC
None of the points you mention even remotely effects me personally, and some of the people who died I've never heard off, so 2011 isn't a low point for me. There are a few items you mention that I do care about (Arab spring; earthquake; flooding), but I don't see them as IT issues.	[reply]
Re: 2011: The dark year of IT? by cdarke (Prior) on Dec 22, 2011 at 11:07 UTC
It's a great time to be in IT! Look at the vast choice of good quality languages and platforms you have available. Look how reliable, cheap, and powerful hardware is. Look at the opportunities of the mobile revolution. I've been in IT for over forty years, yet I wish I was starting out now instead. You lucky blighters.	[reply]