in an article from 2009 about the history of itanium — "how the itanium killed the computer industry" — journalist john c. dvorak reported "this continues to be one of the great fiascos [bad situations] of the last 50 years" . technology writer ashlee vance wrote that slowness in speed and release "turned the product into a joke in the chip industry." in an interview, donald knuth said "the itanium approach...was supposed to be so terrific—until it turned out that the wished-for compilers were basically impossible to write."