Comments on: Visuals for the few http://andyonenterprisesoftware.com/2005/12/visuals-for-the-few/ Andy Hayler, founder of Kalido and The Information Difference, gives his views on the enterprise software market. Issues covered include data warehousing, master data management, business intelligence and data quality. Tue, 07 Oct 2008 20:11:53 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.0.3 by: Andy on Enterprise Software » http://andyonenterprisesoftware.com/2005/12/visuals-for-the-few/#comment-138 Wed, 09 Aug 2006 11:58:24 +0000 http://andyonenterprisesoftware.com/2005/12/visuals-for-the-few/#comment-138 [...] I have written previously that visualisation software is not a mass market, but it can have a major impact in areas where smart visual displays add value e.g. in trading, life sciences or oil exploration.  Stephen’s article also shows up something very illuminating: having a flashy tool is less improtant than thinking carefully about design.  When Powerpoint came out presentations everywhere started to sprout absurd clipart and pschedelic colours, but eventually it was realised that there was still a place for graphic designers.  Similarly in visual analysis it is rarely the case that a more sophisticated tool is needed - even Excel has quite decent charting abilities.  However application designers put too little thought into thoughtful design that is intuitive to use. Before rushing off to buy the latest tool, try reading the following book: “The Visual Display of Quantitative Information” by Edward Tufte, which elegantly illustrates best practice in making sense of complicated data sets in ways that are meaningful and easy to understand.  It should be mandatory reading for anyone designing a system involving the visual display of information. [...] […] I have written previously that visualisation software is not a mass market, but it can have a major impact in areas where smart visual displays add value e.g. in trading, life sciences or oil exploration.  Stephen’s article also shows up something very illuminating: having a flashy tool is less improtant than thinking carefully about design.  When Powerpoint came out presentations everywhere started to sprout absurd clipart and pschedelic colours, but eventually it was realised that there was still a place for graphic designers.  Similarly in visual analysis it is rarely the case that a more sophisticated tool is needed - even Excel has quite decent charting abilities.  However application designers put too little thought into thoughtful design that is intuitive to use. Before rushing off to buy the latest tool, try reading the following book: “The Visual Display of Quantitative Information” by Edward Tufte, which elegantly illustrates best practice in making sense of complicated data sets in ways that are meaningful and easy to understand.  It should be mandatory reading for anyone designing a system involving the visual display of information. […]

]]> by: Dr Igor Malinovsky http://andyonenterprisesoftware.com/2005/12/visuals-for-the-few/#comment-29 Tue, 06 Jun 2006 23:46:00 +0000 http://andyonenterprisesoftware.com/2005/12/visuals-for-the-few/#comment-29 Gentlemen, We at ScienceGL believe that 3D graphics never did the real show in neither business nor scientific application, just because so far it was not kind of a graphics that is truly advantageous over 2D plots. I agree with Gervase Clifton-Bligh that most of the graphics on market is just dead FLAT ----Quote--- >3D interfaces don't work, because >of the essentially 2D nature of a >mouse and screen.... ----End Quote--- The situation changes drastically if you have it in advanced implementation: 1. True virtual reality interactive 3D screen with mouse driven rotation, zoom, “walk around”. This type of graphics does not look flat any longer, because it is as live as real object in your hands. 2. Interactive mouse driven 3D tools touchable and movable in all directions, XYZ coordinate readable under mouse and tools. This kind of mouse does not feel flat any longer. It is true that 3D graphics exists for a long time, but the suitable yet affordable hardware, that fits into advanced graphics demand, has arrived just a couple of years ago. We trust that we do develop something that makes the difference. Just as Games went 3D, geo goes 3D with Google now, many other things will follow. Example might be http://www.sciencegl.com/Stock_market/Stock_market.htm Dr I Malinovsky CTO, ScienceGL Inc www.sciencegl.com Gentlemen,

We at ScienceGL believe that 3D graphics never did the real show in neither business nor scientific application, just because so far it was not kind of a graphics that is truly advantageous over 2D plots.
I agree with
Gervase Clifton-Bligh that most of the graphics on market is just dead FLAT
—-Quote—
>3D interfaces don’t work, because >of the essentially 2D nature of a
>mouse and screen….
—-End Quote—

The situation changes drastically if you have it in advanced implementation:
1. True virtual reality interactive 3D screen with mouse driven rotation, zoom, “walk around”. This type of graphics does not look flat any longer, because it is as live as real object in your hands.

2. Interactive mouse driven 3D tools touchable and movable in all directions, XYZ coordinate readable under mouse and tools. This kind of mouse does not feel flat any longer.

It is true that 3D graphics exists for a long time, but the suitable yet affordable hardware, that fits into advanced graphics demand, has arrived just a couple of years ago.

We trust that we do develop something that makes the difference.
Just as Games went 3D, geo goes 3D with Google now, many other things will follow. Example might be
http://www.sciencegl.com/Stock_market/Stock_market.htm

Dr I Malinovsky
CTO, ScienceGL Inc
www.sciencegl.com

]]> by: Dr Igor Malinovsky http://andyonenterprisesoftware.com/2005/12/visuals-for-the-few/#comment-28 Tue, 06 Jun 2006 23:08:00 +0000 http://andyonenterprisesoftware.com/2005/12/visuals-for-the-few/#comment-28 This post has been removed by the author. This post has been removed by the author.

]]> by: Gervase Clifton-Bligh http://andyonenterprisesoftware.com/2005/12/visuals-for-the-few/#comment-27 Thu, 29 Dec 2005 12:39:00 +0000 http://andyonenterprisesoftware.com/2005/12/visuals-for-the-few/#comment-27 3D interfaces don't work, because of the essentially 2D nature of a mouse and screen.... Glad to hear on the grapevine Kalido is going well! 3D interfaces don’t work, because of the essentially 2D nature of a mouse and screen….

Glad to hear on the grapevine Kalido is going well!

]]> by: Andy Hayler http://andyonenterprisesoftware.com/2005/12/visuals-for-the-few/#comment-26 Fri, 23 Dec 2005 15:25:00 +0000 http://andyonenterprisesoftware.com/2005/12/visuals-for-the-few/#comment-26 Thanks for your comment. I suppose the paradox is that PCs have been around a long time, and there has been some very clever visual software produced over the years, but still no broad adotion. I recall seeing a supeb demo of a 3D "fly through a data warehouse" from Silicon Graphics at a conference a few uears ago, and despite lots of "wow" factor, this simply never found broad appeal, and died away. At present the broad "killer app" for visualization seems elusive. A similar argument could be made for geographic informatin systems (GIS) where despite some fine software from ESRI and others, and despite many seemingly obvious applications, GIS has never really moved far beyond the town planners and engineers into a broader mainstream. Certainly human beings like to see things visually, so if a widely-appealing application of it could be developed then it would widen the market. Personally, I really like the Fractal Edge technology, and I wish you luck in finding that killer app. Thanks for your comment. I suppose the paradox is that PCs have been around a long time, and there has been some very clever visual software produced over the years, but still no broad adotion. I recall seeing a supeb demo of a 3D “fly through a data warehouse” from Silicon Graphics at a conference a few uears ago, and despite lots of “wow” factor, this simply never found broad appeal, and died away.

At present the broad “killer app” for visualization seems elusive. A similar argument could be made for geographic informatin systems (GIS) where despite some fine software from ESRI and others, and despite many seemingly obvious applications, GIS has never really moved far beyond the town planners and engineers into a broader mainstream.

Certainly human beings like to see things visually, so if a widely-appealing application of it could be developed then it would widen the market. Personally, I really like the Fractal Edge technology, and I wish you luck in finding that killer app.

]]> by: Gervase Clifton-Bligh http://andyonenterprisesoftware.com/2005/12/visuals-for-the-few/#comment-25 Fri, 23 Dec 2005 15:01:00 +0000 http://andyonenterprisesoftware.com/2005/12/visuals-for-the-few/#comment-25 A neat analysis that many would subscribe to and which may accurately describe the reasons why no visualization giants have emerged in the last 20 years. However at Fractal Edge we believe this reasoning happens to be true rather than has to be true. Suppose a technique is invented that allows for example normal computer users to understand and spot problems in P&L, sales and other KPI reports more quickly and accurately than with a spreadsheet, then: A. The technique could be called advanced - not because it is being used to assess particularly sophisticated data, but because it has simplified a common data set for a wide range of users. B. The percentage of users who could derive hard business benefit from better quicker, deeper understanding of these reports would be much higher than 1%. The most interesting consideration though is whether anyone actually needs it. Of course this will depend on many factors such as how much time is spent analyzing the report, how critical the analysis is to efficient running of the business, and how competitive the industry is. For this reason I think you can expect successful visualization innovators to focus initially on specific roles within highly competitive industries. Eventually, however, an advantageous visualization technique could attain a level of ubiquity that unequivocally requires the remainder of the market to adopt. A neat analysis that many would subscribe to and which may accurately describe the reasons why no visualization giants have emerged in the last 20 years. However at Fractal Edge we believe this reasoning happens to be true rather than has to be true.

Suppose a technique is invented that allows for example normal computer users to understand and spot problems in P&L, sales and other KPI reports more quickly and accurately than with a spreadsheet, then:

A. The technique could be called advanced - not because it is being used to assess particularly sophisticated data, but because it has simplified a common data set for a wide range of users.
B. The percentage of users who could derive hard business benefit from better quicker, deeper understanding of these reports would be much higher than 1%.

The most interesting consideration though is whether anyone actually needs it. Of course this will depend on many factors such as how much time is spent analyzing the report, how critical the analysis is to efficient running of the business, and how competitive the industry is. For this reason I think you can expect successful visualization innovators to focus initially on specific roles within highly competitive industries. Eventually, however, an advantageous visualization technique could attain a level of ubiquity that unequivocally requires the remainder of the market to adopt.

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