"One recent SQL-to-NoSQL move involved Digg.com moving from MySQL to Cassandra. As part of the move, Digg folks blogged about how they were using MySQL and why it didn't meet their needs. Others were skeptical. Dennis Forbes, in a series of posts on his site (see Resources), questioned whether Digg needed to use a NoSQL solution like Cassandra at all. His claims centered on what he considered very poor database usage on the part of Digg combined with inadequate hardware. In his mind, if Digg had just designed its database properly or switched to using SSDs in its servers, it would have had no problems. His best quote is this: "The way that many are using NoSQL is like discovering the buggy whip at the beginning of the automotive era." Ouch. "