15 top quotes of 2011

IDG News Service - As another year draws to a close, we look back on the IT-related comments that stuck with us.

'That day has come'

"I have always said if there ever came a day when I could no longer meet my duties and expectations as Apple's CEO, I would be the first to let you know. Unfortunately, that day has come."

-- Steve Jobs in an Aug. 24 resignation letter to Apple employees.

And that one thing is ...

"We're focused on doing one thing incredibly well. If you look at other companies, all of these companies are doing a lot of different things but we're still, as we grow, doing exactly one thing," she said.

-- Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, during an interview with Charlie Rose that CEO Mark Zuckerberg also participated in.

... not security

"If that doesn't prove that [Facebook's] developers aren't thinking about security, I don't know what would."

-- An observer posting on Hacker News after Zuckerberg's personal photos were publicly revealed when a security flaw was exploited. Either Zuckerberg doesn't post his best photos at Facebook or the guy lives an incredibly boring life, playing with his dog and eating too much fried food.

Benioff vs. Ellison, Part 1

"Beware of the false cloud."

-- Salesforce.com CEO Marc Benioff in one of many tweets after Oracle dared to move a Benioff speech at OracleWorld. Benioff claimed his speech had been canceled, and given that he'd just publicly jabbed Oracle and CEO Larry Ellison, that claim could be viewed as justified. But Benioff, as he tends to do, went on too long about it.

Benioff vs. Ellison, Part 2

"That is such good advice, I could not have said it better myself."

-- Ellison, in an Oct. 6 speech at OracleWorld, where he also called Salesforce.com's flagship product "the roach motel" of the cloud. "You can check in, but you can't check out ... now that is a false cloud."

IT psychology 101

"I don't mean to be Dr. Phil here, but to get out of a contract you need to be ready to leave."

-- Constellation Research CEO Ray Wang in "10 ways to beat SAP at the bargaining table."

Tricks of the trade

"You can never say all the tricks have been done. Someone always shows you something you didn't know. Every year you think, 'Gee, I didn't think you could do that.'"

-- Landon Curt Noll, a founder of the International Obfuscated C Code Contest, upon the return of the competition, in an interview in which he did not define what makes for obfuscated code. "It's like porn," he said. "You know it when you see it."