How does it feel to work on a platform for as long as you remember, you've been encouraged to innovate, to improve and give all in day and night for that platform, be it either an operating system, a hardware architecture or a software framework/library and then be forced to switch bases because that platform has been abandoned over the night?

It has happened before, many times, for eg. to SGI/IRIX and more recently to SUN/Open Solaris and now Nokia/Symbian.

Have you been part of such a shift? If so then please share the story and describe your feelings at that time and if it is the case, how did you manage the situation? Reorientation? Giving up on the field and turned to other things you've been constantly putting aside like family? Many did so(for eg. people at Netscape). You may not think of it being such a big deal, but it is, after you've been working 10 to 20+ years on a platform/technology and then be faced to switch your expertise and mindset, the feeling tends to become really strong and some people really give up this crazy field and start enojoying a normal life. Would love to hear your stories.