The query optimizer takes some of the most insane, convoluted, gargantuan queries and somehow produces relatively good plans. I've messed with a variety of DBMS

The query optimizer takes some of the most insane, convoluted, gargantuan queries and somehow produces relatively good plans. I've messed with a variety of DBMS but I've never encountered one with such a forgiving optimizer. Unfortunately, that is also a downside, since it lets people get away with writing truly maddening T-SQL queries in the first place.