Big data is now becoming a buzzword in information technology undustry and research. is big data only about large volume of data? and if it yes, why is iit suddenly becoming a trend? hasn't the growth of data volume been gigantic in the last decade? from a research point of view, it is not surprising to see researchers from all walks of computer science are trying to align their research to big data for the sake of being trendy. the question remains whether it tackles the real big data poblems. this paper describes the misconceptions of big data, presents motivating cases, and discusses the unavoidable challenges faced by industry and research.