Not to start a "ours is better" sub-thread, but actually qgis competitor is arcgis pro, not arcmap. And for a fraction of computer resources. If you want to see multi-threaded gui well done try it out. Also saying it's an arcmap rip off is just not even close. If you'd say it's an arcview 3.x gui rip off it would be arguable.
Also this whole thread illustrates the biased relationship between esri and its customers. People are desperate and keep hearing you should stand on your head to make it suck less...
I think pro is a great idea. I want to be able to work with it. I paid for it after all. Am paying every year.
Bad mouthing other products doesn't improve pro...
Also, yes, qgis is very much rdbms capable. Much, much more capable than anything arc*. It's made to work with postgis though. Not with a proprietary data scheme (even though it can) slapped with an "enterprise" price hike. OTOH arcgis can make an enterprise gdb use native postgis format so it's compatible with all postgis clients, including qgis.
What ever value esri offers I think it's mainly in the full stack they provide to customers. The new desktop component just happens to suck.