CloudScope's popular visuals are returning to AppSource. Collage is available already, and the other visuals, including Image, will be joining it soon.
What changed? Several things.
First, the outpouring from customers since we initially removed the visuals has been overwhelming. We heard from so many people that told me how their companies were using the visuals and how important they were. It really made us humbled that our products were so widely used and contributed so much to many reports. We wanted to do whatever we could to continue to support these customers.
Second, although the wheels of progress are slow, Microsoft is listening to developers. They have pledged to make improvements in several important areas, including review time for certified visuals. Unfortunately, there doesn't appear to be progress on allowing certified visuals to access external images. Please vote for this Power BI Idea!
In order to work within Microsoft's security restrictions, all of the visuals that were previously certified will be released as an uncertified visual. Once these are available, a new certified visual will be submitted for approval. However, these visuals will only support internal image content, e.g. data URIs, or base64 data. At this point, there will be two versions of the same visual available and customers can choose which one is best for them.
We are also considering releasing a variation of the visuals as an in-app purchase option. The visuals are expensive to develop and support and CloudScope is not a large company. We provide free, email-based support for all of the visuals and we've spent hundreds of hours of development. While the existing functionality will remain free, there are several compelling ideas that we'd like to bring forward if there is an opportunity to recoup some of our effort through customer support.
Thanks to everyone who contacted CloudScope about your visuals. You really amazed us with your support. Please keep your feedback coming about what you'd like to see in future versions. We'll see you on AppSource.