Tim Lind writes about Innovation in Database Technology:
That, is why we have really moved away from sql, it is not for any specific approach to scalability or data storage, but rather just the ability to free ourselves from the standardized ideas encapsulated in the standard query language.
I’m going to say it again, moving away from sql allows us to innovate. I’m sure no one will have ill feeling towards the notion of innovation, and standardization is almost the exact opposite, it is the crystallization of previous innovation, so of course it would be what we stand against.
We do not necessarily stand against any specific idea encapsulated by the sql standardization, rather we just choose to open ourselves up to investigating the elements of the system for the sake of making design decisions which provide innovative solutions.