Databases do scale and Microsoft would argue that they can scale as well as Oracle, but it takes skill to do this well. As Microsoft SQL Server has risen in capabilities toward Oracle's level, so has the need for better planning and engineering.

Databases are excellent places to contain business logic; it HAS to be close to the data and it all has to be centralized to be well managed. That's the key idea of OOD and, the next level up, SOA. That's why Oracle had to put Java in its database and Microsoft had to put .NET into its database. These are key enablers of this new mindset.

The larger and more complex systems being implemented on Microsoft platforms are demanding a new level of sophistication. The database is at the heart of these sophisticated systems.

DBAs cannot shrug this off and let application developers take all the responsibility for scaling and complexity.