Data is the priceless commodity powering business, and over the years, the databases that contain and secure that data took on an aura that sets them apart from other infrastructure: if data is special, then databases must be equally valuable. Projecting data's importance onto databases is a convenient excuse for all manner of sins. In the Cloud Native age, those crimes rise to capital offenses: Bespoke systems curated by hand. Limited accountability or oversight. Outdated technology that saddles the enterprise with brittle infrastructure that cements it to its legacy roots.

The only reasonable punishment? Death to the database!

Death to traditional databases, that is, or rather to antiquated beliefs that put databases beyond the reach of the standards applied elsewhere in the enterprise. Organizations that are cloud-native, except for their databases, are not cloud-native. Reliance on legacy databases limits the ability to advance, pivot in response to market forces and competition, and adapt and grow into new technologies. "Lifting and shifting" a database to the cloud just adds a fresh coat of paint to the same old weaknesses.

This talk examines the competitive forces driving database modernization and explores a path forward. It outlines strategies for evolving infrastructure and attitudes and identifies counterarguments to the emotional objections that can derail such projects.