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Tableau, still not boring

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Here’s one reason I’ve always liked Tableau, and still do even as it enters a mother ship’s cold embrace. An email pitch from Tableau this week:

Music is a global unifier—connecting us from afar and strengthening relationships closer to home. Within every note is a larger story, sparking conversations and creating memories.

But, what if … we could uncover more of these stories?

It’s personal, therefore more meaningful than the tired old promises so many other data vendors keep recycling. This pitch isn’t boring.

And so I forgive them for overusing “story,” the magic word these days.

Tableau’s first conference / What a little tool proved

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Ten years ago this month, Tableau made me want data. One magical demo of the almost unknown Tableau desktop tool was like a trapeze act. It looked so easy, so fluid, and so much fun as director of visual analysis Jock Mackinlay showed off daring leaps in rapid succession. I had no data, but that made me want to get some so I could play like that.

At the first Tableau Customer Conference (“customer” was dropped later), July 20, 2008. fewer than 200 people showed up, including staff. I was the one journalist or industry analyst. We stood in crammed corridors and meeting rooms at the 223-room Edgewater Inn on the Seattle waterfront.… Read the rest “Tableau’s first conference / What a little tool proved”

The seductiveness of Power BI

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A CEO I hear from has for years embedded Tableau in his BI platform. Tableau is the best choice by far, he says. Lately, though, a new tool has caught the BI market’s fancy: Power BI, from Microsoft. It’s already a strong contender against Tableau, he says.

One more thing: for individuals with a gigabyte or less of stored data, it’s free. The next higher tier cost about $10 a month. At these levels at least, it’s far cheaper than Tableau.

He describes the tool’s seductive quality: “You get your feet wet,” he says, “then your head wet, your whole body wet, and pretty soon you’re drowning.”… Read the rest “The seductiveness of Power BI”