Is Relational the New COBOL? What the History of Technology Tells Us About Change` explores how technology evolves and what causes one technology to become dominant while another fades away. The article discusses the history of COBOL, a programming language that was once widely used but is now largely obsolete. Similarly, relational databases are still in use for legacy applications but are no longer relevant for innovation due to their inefficiencies and limitations. According to MongoDB CTO Mark Porter, developers are not interested in working with relational databases because they are not scalable or flexible enough to support new applications. Instead, modern data platforms offer enterprise-grade scalability, flexibility, and intuitiveness. As companies focus on differentiating themselves through innovation during the pandemic, those relying on relational databases are at a disadvantage when it comes to scaling and keeping pace with competitors.