They have made strides to rectify this situation in the latest release by adding object-relational capabilities called adaptive components, as well as improving functionality and adding features. And Sybase too has renamed their product to Adaptive Server Enterprise. And, for Sybase the going has been quite tough financially, too. That always seems to be the excuse, but I don't think that is so-not in this case. But does all of this suggest that the DBMS will no longer be the lynchpin of the modern application system.
Databases still drive most new applications being developed today.
The problem is that the new features of the latest and greatest DBMS versions are not yet compelling enough to drive new and upgrade revenue. Believe me, this will change. Instead, databases are storing data and the procedures that access the data. Additionally, databases are becoming more flexible, but with the flexibility comes complexity. And people fear adding complexity without a valid reason to do so.