The Weekly Round-Up: Miserable techies, the CIO's secret love and geek holidays

Should Sys Admin Day be a national holiday?

The ongoing miserable economic climate has not only made IT workers feel dreadful, but it's making them look gloomy as well.

As the woes of the economy increase, IT workers have apparently responded by toning down their fashion choices, according to workwear specialists Alexandra. It found that demand from tech workers for navy blue suits - the most popular colour in 2005 - has dropped while the popularity of sober charcoal has steadily increased.

The company said this showed there is a clear link between an employee's emotions and the clothes they choose to wear for work, adding "Colours such as charcoal and black are commonly connected to depression as they are shades that absorb colour and reflect nothing back, while blue is associated with soothing and calming feelings".

Perhaps the Round-Up doesn't travel in the right circles, but I don't tend see a whole lot of IT workers in suits, apart from weddings and court appearances, so it's hard to judge how much of an effect the economy has had on their sartorial decision making strategies.

But I have a sneaking suspicion that even those techies who have retreated into a suit and tie to protect their careers will have their secret identity tucked away, Superman-like underneath.

Beneath those sober suits I suspect that techies will still joyfully embrace geek culture with t-shirts bearing statements along the lines of 'I'm not slacking off, my code's compiling', or 'My other server runs on Linux'. Just remember to lay off the comedy ties, though.

Have CIOs finally fallen in love with Apple? Could it be that the straight-laced CIO has finally fallen for the seductive good looks of the iPhone, iPad and even the Mac?

CIOs are learning to love Apple's hardwarePhoto: Chris Harrison

The long and complicated on-off love affair between the two certainly follows the basic outline of a cheesy romcom, with the CIO at first repelled by the irritating yet seductive cool of Apple's gadgets, and then finally learning to love them (with the obligatory 'hilarious' adventures along the way).

iPads and iPhone have been gradually seeping into offices over the last few years. That's either been because they've been sneaked in under the IT department's radar by those accursed young people, or by bosses splashing out on an executive toy that the IT department then has to to support through gritted teeth.

But now the CIO is wholehearted embracing Apple, and according to analysts Forrester this is now challenging the supremacy of the mighty Windows.

According to Forrester one in five "information workers" claim to use an Apple device for work, with 11 per cent using iPhones, nine per cent using iPads, and eight per cent using Macs.

In an uncertain world full of change, CIOs have suddenly discovered their inner fanboy, and as Forrester points out: "Forrester hears from CIOs that they feel protected by Apple's brand and app store strategy in a way that they don't with Android products." It could be the start of a beautiful relationship, just in time for Valentine's Day...

Christmas is forgotten, it's way too long until Easter (although the eggs are in the shops) and it's months to the next bank holiday, which means there is very little to look forward to except, well, nothing really.

Or so you might think. In fact, our friends over at TechRepublic have put together a tremendous geek calendar which lists all the geek holidays for you to celebrate.

I'm not entirely sure that HR will give you the day off to celebrate Darwin Day (12 February) but there's plenty of time to work on them before Star Wars Day (4 May) or Sys Admin Day (27 July).

Check out the full list and start agitating for a public holiday now!