Tableau

One side effect of working on FileMaker Pro is raising my bar to appreciate other software. I only consider a very limited number of software as ingenious. Dropbox, Markdown Pro, Notational Velocity, Evernote(Unfortunately, it keeps getting worse). Recently, I came across another one which I really appreciate, it’s called Tableau. It’s probably my first time to use BI tool, and the way it approaches data visualization is very intuitive. What impresses me further is it plays very well with the web. Tableau’s data sheet can be uploaded to their cloud and I can simply embed the generated javascript on my webpage. I can even manipulate the sheet there to explore different data perspectives.

We keep talking about (big) data these days and a handful of new database products appears. Thanks to ODBC/JDBC, we have a unified way to talk with different data sources. As to Tableau, it not only takes the advantage of ODBC, but also unleashes the power of it. That’s another reason why I consider it as a great product. A great product can present an underlying esoteric technology with a user friendly interface. It bridges the gap between technology(Database, SQL) and users(BI Analysts).

Web has evolved to 2.0. Probably the enterprise software should follow the same trend as well and Tableau is a good showcase.