How about a big dollop of Azure with that database engine? Microsoft opens up SQL Server 2022 preview

Be afraid, be very afraid. The "most Azure-enabled" release yet of Microsoft's flagship database has arrived in private preview form at the company's Ignite shindig. Welcome to SQL Server 2022. Microsoft's SQL Server relational database can trace its roots back to the end of the 1980s and an effort to port Sybase to OS/2. Over …

[werdsmith]

I’ve seen Postgres and Maria becoming first choice for many applications that once were default SQL Server shoe ins.

So, MS keep up with the Azurification, because the alternatives are no bad thing.

[Warm Braw]

SQL Server has had a relatively short window of popularity, governed as much by its licensing as its features.

When the web first arrived, Microsoft insisted you have a SQL Server licence for each individual user (authenticated or not) of any web application making use of it, which meant it didn't see a lot of use in that area until the terms changed.

The problem with cloud-by-default is that systems are built to facilitate scaling at the (literal) expense of being able to control costs. There is a real risk of unbounded and crippling bills resulting from the behaviour of a malicious actor - or 'going viral' that simply doesn't arise with a physical box and fixed bandwidth.

I'd be fine with Azurification if I could pre-pay and know I'd stop being charged when the credit ran out: I don't particularly want to have to accommodate kit on premises or attend to its care and feeding. Microsoft is somewhat better in this area than other cloud providers, but I'm not using any of them in anger as long as they require a card number.