This cycle blankets every new technology as a misstep that we’ll revert back from. The real cycle is that we continually test new ideas and new approaches, learn their strengths and weakness, and ultimately keep what works and discard what doesn’t. Sure we miss the ball more than we connect. But take this example: We now have native JSON support since Postgres 9.2. So did we abandon the document model or learn more about how and where it might be appropriate? Some advancements are even more sweeping: I don’t think we’ll ever go back to FTP or even CVS from the Git-centric workflows we now have.

Technology, in my experience, never seems to reward too much optimism or too much cynicism.