By Stephen Few. June 27th, 2007 at 1:13 pmAl,
In response to your question, I would be happy to suggest alternatives to Microsoft’s data visualization capabilities, but you might want to browse the many articles and blog topics in which I have already proposed alternatives for a range of data visualization needs. If you would rather not take the time to see what I have already written, please describe what you would like to accomplish and I would be happy to suggest software that you might want to consider.
Regarding Microsoft bashing, I critique data visualizating software in general, and don’t hesitate to point out problems in any vendor’s products. If you read my work, you will see that this is the case. In fact, I have pointed out problems in the software of certain other vendors much more often than I have done so regarding Microsoft. I tend to respond to press releases and other forms of marketing when they make claims about the the visualization capabilities of their software that are not accurate or that promote bad practices. In this particular case, I responded to the release of Microsoft’s video about the company’s visual analysis vision.
You might be interested in knowing that there are good folks at Microsoft who agree with my perspective and are working desperately to get the company to adopt a better understanding of data visualization and better practices.
Steve