The only special thing about 2008 I know of is that it is a leap year. That was the cause of the Zune problem. Could be the cause of other problems also.

Speaking of coincidences, many people said of the Z2K9 problem that it was a merely a coincidence that it happened on New Years and on a leap year--but they were wrong. One of an item (Zune, server, etc.) crashing at New Years is probably coincidence. Several probably is systemic.