I looked at some of the Gemini comments wrote in the week-end. I’m sincerely worried about the possible abuse of this tool, just like everyone over there. However, I think that Microsoft shown Gemini so early (read my previous post about what Microsoft has not shown) just to make a position in the market. There are other tools out there that are similar to Gemini but that are proposed as an economical alternative to classical DW/OLAP solutions. The fact that also Microsoft will be part of this market should clarify to several customers that these two technologies are not necessarily concurrent but could be complementary.
Of course, the problem is that this technology is particularly subject to misuse and abuse. I liked the analogy made by Chris between Gemini and illegal drugs. What is the best way to control them? Legalization or prohibitionism? It’s a really hard question. Considering we are talking about software and you can’t have rules and police to enforce prohibitionism, it seems to me that legalization is the only way to control it.
However, my worst nightmare is another one: looking at some MS marketing presentation selling Gemini as the “final solution” to every BI needs. Will Microsoft be able to correctly instruct their sales rep and their partners about how to correctly position its product? In my opinion, this will be the most critical part of the Gemini debut.