2011 had some pretty big surprises for developers, much more so than the last few years. In my mind, the Windows 8 Developer Preview was a complete bombshell for developers and announced Microsoft’s intention to slowly shift away from the desktop paradigm completely. Adobe cancelled mobile Flash, which made a lot of sense, but plenty of folks didn’t see it coming. Likewise for Microsoft telling folks that HTML5 was good enough for Web needs and relegating Silverlight to a number of niches. And the unfinished, still stabilizing HTML5 has suddenly become a platform of choice for many developers. Developers, let us know what you surprised you the most this year.

J.Ja