"blows my mind" is similar in tone yes. But I wasn't replying to the OP. Further the OP actually goes into some detail about how he would approach the problem. You do not.

You are assuming you know what the OP meant by tricky question. And your assumption contradicts the rest of the OP's post regarding what he considered good answers to the question and why.

Honest question: was "blows my mind" so offensive? Thought it was quite obvious I meant that "it blows my mind people don't try the simpler stuff first, especially having in mind that it works for much bigger percentage than cloud providers would have you believe"?

I guess it wasn't but even if so, it would be legitimately baffling how people manage to project so much negativity in three words that are slightly tongue-in-cheek casual comment on the state of affairs in an area whose value is not always clear (in my observations, only after you start having 20+ data sources it starts to pay off to have dedicated data team; I've been in teams only 3-4 devs and we still managed to have 15-ish data dashboards for the executives without too much cursing).

An anecdote, surely, but what isn't?

I generally don't find that sort of thing offensive when combined with useful alternative approaches like your post provided. However the phrase does come with a connotation that you are surprised by a lack of knowledge or skill in others. That can be taken as smug or elitist by someone in the wrong frame of mind.

Thank you, that's helpful.