"Didn't anyone realize that the database code was severely cracked, if not actually broken?"
Well, it seems to be working for millions of people. Your language is rude. Think for a second if a new version of MySQL causes "hundreds" of PHP apps to break then maybe it's changed the rules?
WordPress has always been built with baseline MySQL 3.23 compatibility.
If you can't be civil please go away. If you can calm down a little bit, please file a patch to this bug:
