Totally agree with you there. I worked for a telecom right out of school and they hired a couple of consultants to implement some horrible Java single sign on system (I think it was called JOSSO?) backed by our Oracle database. The system was really buggy and as we were navigating the issues with the Java code, we ended up porting most of the core functionality to Oracle Stored Procedures.
Eventually, the Java code continued giving us so much trouble that I mouthed off to our VP that I could rewrite this entire system in PHP in one night. He said, "Okay, do it."
So we did it...and because the core functionality was in stored procedures it was really easy to switch from Java to something else. The system never had a single issue the next 2 years that I was there after the move either.
Opting to not use vendor specific features just let's you make a commitment on where you want to be locked in harder.
Eventually, the Java code continued giving us so much trouble that I mouthed off to our VP that I could rewrite this entire system in PHP in one night. He said, "Okay, do it."
So we did it...and because the core functionality was in stored procedures it was really easy to switch from Java to something else. The system never had a single issue the next 2 years that I was there after the move either.
Opting to not use vendor specific features just let's you make a commitment on where you want to be locked in harder.