Over at the “Internet Evolution” blog, Rob Salkowitz talks about that fun little piece of Microsoft Technology ‘Pivot’ that first appeared around a year ago.  It’s a neat interactive way to view data that shows a lot of promise, but hasn’t really materialized in any large way.  He wonders why, and breaks it down to the fate of Microsoft’s LiveLabs division.

LiveLabs was insulated from Office groupthink and politics, but also from the unit’s enormous clout as Microsoft’s cash-cow. Consequently, LiveLabs proved a real-life demonstration of the cartoon where the mad scientist comes out of his lab and says, “Eureka! The experiment is a success! Unfortunately, the subject died.”

He then laments the failure and how this product will never come to light.

I guess nobody ever told him about the March TED Talk on the subject, or the PivotViewer website and free-download.

via Internet Evolution – Rob Salkowitz – The Coolest Microsoft Tool You May Never See.