Stonebraker is the only "guru" who is willing to discard his old prejudices and reinvent himself. Of course, when he says "ACID or GTFO", and that "eventual consistency" is a nonsense, he is talking about things that can never be overtaken by time.

But for the rest, throughout this presentation, he is not talking about technology at all. He is talking about organizational toxicities. He is talking about trying to function above Coase's ceiling. He is talking about requirements rot. He is talking about the pervasive confusion about who the technology is for.

Is it for the customers? Good.

Is it for the DBAs? Much less good.

Is it for the auditors? Well, it has to be -- but will they allow any of the re-engineering proposals that Stonebraker recommends? How many years will it take them to train their own people? And in the meanwhile, they will not sign off on anything that involves technology they don't understand.

Is it for the vendors? Absolutely impermissible.

Is it for the C-suite? Track every minute spent on it and try to get the accountants to call it OpEx.