I'm split, because there was this article saying the opposite, that actually text is a pretty good format because it's simple, compact, and easily debug-able. On the other hand text is awful if you want to serialize data because parsing and searching text is one of the most CPU intensive thing.
Now, it's true that we should recognize where text is really inadequate, especially when indexing and searching is needed. Webpages, for example, should not be plain text.
I think the problem resides in programmers not being able to properly use and understand how a database works. Databases and their engines are black boxes, so it's normal if fewer developers want to to use DB like you say. Meanwhile dictionaries and B-tree are not very sophisticated algorithms, yet I see almost no programmers using them consciously. The less a programmer know about the tools he has in his hands, the less he will get benefits from it and thus he will start using easier things.
So really my thought is that the tools are not accessible enough. The concepts of file and database are so distant that it's completely impossible to work with both, but to me it should.
Now, it's true that we should recognize where text is really inadequate, especially when indexing and searching is needed. Webpages, for example, should not be plain text.
I think the problem resides in programmers not being able to properly use and understand how a database works. Databases and their engines are black boxes, so it's normal if fewer developers want to to use DB like you say. Meanwhile dictionaries and B-tree are not very sophisticated algorithms, yet I see almost no programmers using them consciously. The less a programmer know about the tools he has in his hands, the less he will get benefits from it and thus he will start using easier things.
So really my thought is that the tools are not accessible enough. The concepts of file and database are so distant that it's completely impossible to work with both, but to me it should.