Tableau
天舟约 3 分钟英文写于 2013 年 2 月硅谷，现在看笔触还是稚嫩了一些。至于为什么这篇公众号封面用了霸王的大陆，读到后面就明白了。
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.
我现在偶尔还是会想起 Tableau，因为他让我第一次意识到 ToB 产品也是能很好用的，那也是我第一次体验把自己产品能力嵌入到其他网页的方案，还动手在自己的网站上挂了2个 (感谢 web archive 帮我寻回曾经的博客):
找了下当年做的东西，居然还都在
GDP by Country 2000-2010: https://public.tableau.com/views/GDP_By_Country_2000_2010/GDB_By_Country_2000_2010
霸王大陆武将列表: https://public.tableau.com/views/_417/sheet0
怎么会想起写 Tableau 呢，一来是因为看到一篇文章，写了不少分析 Tableau 厉害的逻辑。但我觉得，这种分析容易把人往沟里带，让大家去关注各种商业逻辑。在我看来，Tableau 能行就是因为产品本身好用，对一个普通用户来说做得够 intuitive，再加上具备传播属性的内嵌网页能力。做工具产品的逻辑应该很简单 1) 判断刚需 2) 把产品往极致好用的方向拱。
还有就是因为现在大家开始聊 Web 3.0 了，而我接触 Tableau 的时候正好是 Web 2.0。但当时 toB 领域的 Web 2.0 应用还不像现在这么如日中天，FileMaker Pro 还只顾着和 Access 持续角力，未曾想马上会被 Forrest Wave 卷进一股叫低代码的浪潮，也未预料到一个叫 Airtable 的产品已经在暗处开始准备颠覆整个市场。
我也在思考 Web 3.0 的 toB 应用该是怎么样的。像Tableau 后来基本就没怎么大变化，所以 Web 3.0 的 toB 场景是否会发生新的 paradigm shift，引发又一次产品体验的跃迁，把Tableau 们给颠覆掉呢？
我暂时还没有答案，仍在思考中 🤔🤔🤔
点击「阅读原文」可以快速查看霸王大陆武将数值，顺便也体会一下 Tableau 2013 年的产品能力。我有一段时间没怎么碰 BI 工具了，但 2013 年的 Tableau 放到今天看也还是很好的产品。