When the 900-pound gorilla Microsoft announces, as they did a few days ago, a new experimental language for creating interactive data visualizations, people sit up and pay attention. This confirmation of the explosive growth of the field appeals to both programming novices and experts alike, cutting [out?] a wide swatch of potential customers.
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A preview is coming early next year, so most people can only speculate on its impact, but I think it is going to be huge. Patterned after Processing (another recent programming
language with rich data visualization techniques), this project from the Microsoft Computational Science Studio is meant to move beyond the usual bar, pie and line charts found so often in Powerpoint and other professional business presentations. Targeting the same audiences, the new language will include features such as maps, 3d shapes, animation features, interaction features, volumetric renderers, transparent colors and a rich library of rendering techniques--as stated in their press materials. The new application doesn't sound like something "people who aren't experts in programming" would want to use.
While personally this all sounds exciting to a geek like me, I can't help but feel that Microsoft saw the success of the new language and ecosystem started by Ben Fry and Casey Reas (Processing), and simply copied the concepts and capabilities and packaged it in a Windows-only, watered-down legally-oppressive "prototype."
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