Rules of Database App Aging - Push cx
http://push.cx/2009/rules-of-database-app-aging

"all fields become optional" etc. good stuff.

Rule 3. (too true!) Chatter Always Expands

This will be incomprehensible to non developers in the audience, but oh god, this is so painfully, painfully true.

"I mentioned I’ve learned some rules of how database apps change over time, now that I’ve done a few dozen. They are: ... "

Recently, a lot of new non-relational databases have cropped up both inside and outside the cloud.

Article about where key/value databases should be used over relational databases, with some examples of dbs available.

purpose of the key/value databases. is the paradigm changing these days?