Why don't the headlines say "Developer glitch" or "Design glitch" instead of "Database glitch"

Most people are aware that a “database” glitch caused the download servers for Windows 7 RC to fail the other day. What annoys me though is that the headlines always say “Database glitch” or “SQL Server glitch”. Based on what Paul Randall was posting today, it seems like a pretty simple “Design glitch” or a “Developer glitch”.

Every month, I find myself at sites with issues caused by the lack of database-related skills in developer teams. SQL Server does such a good job and is so easy to work with that it seems like many developer teams think they don’t need database-related skills, particularly at the design stage. How can that message get changed? Or is that a lost cause and the product needs to simply become:

• even easier to use or
• more accomodating of design issues or
• clearly identify design issues?

Perhaps the headlines should say “Project Management Glitch”.

2009-05-07