"[N]on-traditional databases" with far better performance actually pre-date relational databases. Relational databases solved the problem they had, of requirin

"[N]on-traditional databases" with far better performance actually pre-date relational databases. Relational databases solved the problem they had, of requiring much developer effort to evolve for new application needs, and re-organization of the datastore for changing performance needs. Basically, everything is a table, and you can combine/separate tables, from whatever form it currently is, to whatever form you currently need. This is also helpful for reporting (as opposed to operational applications). But relational databases, like dynamic languages, pay a performance price for their flexibility. Of course, every other innovation has since been added, and there's Oracle's licensing too. So it's much more complex than the base technology of relational algebra.