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ts not exactly the same thing, but MS's map thing (whatever they call all their MSN/"Live" stuff these days), does have what they call "birds eye" view. It only works in IE, and its not ground level, but it still works fairly well. You can easily see landmarks and stuff to help you find places.

You lost me at IE...

That's too bad, because the bird's eye view works just fine in Firefox (not in Opera, though, and I don't have a way to test against Safari/Konqueror at the moment). I just verified it, and you can, too. Here's Microsoft's headquarters, in bird's eye view. View the link in Firefox, and all is good.

Bird's eye view is just using different images for the tiles, and the only limitation is whether or not Microsoft (or whoever they buy their data from) has flown planes over the area to take pictures. As the grandparent said, it's not the same as being street level, but it's still quite detailed -- I can clearly see my truck parked outside of my house in bird's eye view. The same truck just looks like a white blob in aerial or hybrid view.

They did it over a year ago. But it looks like the project may have been abandoned: http://preview.local.live.com/ Also, A9 (Amazon) had something similar but they got rid of it.

You're probably going to get a lot of skeptics telling you that you are wrong. Some people are lucky in that their bodies are bullet proof to a lot of chemicals. I've had problems with Aspartame, but the main killer for me is Azo Dyes. Something that seems to affect a few people in my family although I suffer the worst. When I was younger I'd be quite happy and then I would eat something and be really sick for hours or days. My parents were going nuts for years trying to work out what I was allergic to. I've got a write up on my blog about Azo Dyes here http://johnstewien.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!E6885D B5CEBABBC8!410.entry

As far as I know it's the MBU (Mac Business Unit) that lives in Mountain View (great place, btw - I lived there for a year :-), and they all threatened to resign when MS wanted to move them up to Redmond - MS wanting to consolidate everyone to one location.

I did a quick search, and I can't find anything linking the Zune to Mountain View. I did find the blog of a Zune tester who apparently lives in Washington ("I was at the Rascal Flatts concert in Tacoma, Washington on Sunday.")

Simon.

Why is this news -- because it is Google? The whole article is filled with "Google understands blah blah...but all their competitors do too and have been doing the same thing".
No hot grits, but you can see natalie portman images inlined in the search results in live.com and that has been there for a while now. http://search.live.com/results.aspx?q=natalie+port man&form=QBRE

Directly from the article:
Google's competitors have also begun integrating results from their engines in various ways and with different approaches, but with the same goal in mind: improve the search experience for users.

im not being paranoid but now if lets say your site doesnt conform to "google" standards they can just label you site as spyware?! i can see it now, goes and types http://live.com/ google tollbar pops up "this site is marked as malware, blah blah" great way to take out your competition and extend own monopoly!

Don't worry, they have made a search engine for finding their late and forgotten attempts to copy other software/websites.

Although this time around, Microsoft actually has a pretty decent chance (with the .NET backend for Silverlight) at outdoing Adobe Flash Player for consuming the most system resources. So I wouldn't discount them straight away!

Microsoft's site shows it clearly:

http://local.live.com/default.aspx?v=2&cp=37.97934 ~-84.419424&style=a&lvl=19&tilt=-90&dir=0&alt=-100 0&scene=2023607&sp=Point.q9x2067yygqs_4275%20Athen s%20Boonesboro%20Rd%2C%20Lexington%2C%20KY%2040509 -8534%2C%20United%20States___&encType=1

4275 Athens-Boonesboro Road, Lexington, Kentucky 40509

Seems an appropriate opportunity to ask the question: Why the fuck is this residence blurred out? It appears to be someone who is a planholder in Kentucky's state health care plan, so maybe they're a powerful state government official:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&client=safari&r ls=en&q=4275-athens-boonesboro&btnG=Search

BTW, why are the addresses of all Kentucky state planholders publicly available and indexed on Google? That is just pathetic data security...

Anyway, the same address is accessible (and not blurred) via Microsoft Live!:

http://maps.live.com/default.aspx?v=2&cp=q9wwps7yy j8t&style=o&lvl=2&tilt=-90&dir=0&alt=-1000&scene=2 023607&encType=1

And appears to show two residences with pools in the back yard. Nothing to hide. Property records indicate that they were formerly owned by a lawyer named William Hurt, who practices in Lexington but now lives at another address. Given the rather inconspicuous pictures of them at the Microsoft Live flyover, the fact that they're blurred out on Google Maps is even more conspicuous than just showing the pictures of the two houses that are blurred.

There may be a high-powered state government official living there, but how did they have enough influence to get the pics blurred out? Were they skinnydipping in the pool? I don't think the map would show enough detail to make that a problem. Any ideas?

There is a feature in Firefox that allows deleting persistent cookies at the end of the session. It was first introduced in IE6, called "downgrading" but the IE options do not allow configuring the cookie settings to use it.
See http://randomoracle.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!31E31 D6FA273C756!153.entry for an overview of downgrading.

Downgrading can increase the skewing of user stats. Instead of having to wait for user manually deleting cookies, it happens automatically and each new session registers as a new unique user

By the way, rejecting all cookies does not skew user count statistics, because it is possible to detect that cookie was not set. As simple defense, the count should be incremented when cookie is received not when it is set.

Compare Google Maps to Google Earth, which is more responsive and flexible?

I prefer online maps; they work better for me.

For example, did you know windows live maps includes a bird's eye view feature?

In the world of desktop software, here's how that would have worked: I'd have turned my map view into some sort of file, found web space, uploaded it, and posted a link to it. You would have downloaded the file and been told 'unknown file type', you'd have to go to Microsoft's web page and download 'Microsoft 3D Earth' or whatever their client software is called. You'd need administrator privileges to install it, and it would probably conflict with Google Earth for the 'map view' file type (or perhaps the map view would have opened in google earth and shown you the wrong thing). If you already had the software installed but you got it before the 'bird's eye view' feature came out you'd have to upgrade - probably by manually downloading a multi-megabyte new installer and running it. If you ran Linux or a Mac you might not be able to access the software at all.

On the other hand, with a web interface, you could see the thing I was trying to show you just by clicking a link I copy-and-pasted.

Anyway, I guess my point is: though web-based apps have disadvantages, they also have advantages, and for some applications these advantages can be pretty compelling. I hope web apps are not a fad.

This does seem like old news and there have been some development at MS labs along with Flicker that totally top the cake on this google ap (albeit it's not released to the public to submit photos yet). Here's a video of the Photosynth application that I've been unable to find on the offical site: MS Photosynth

Unfortunately it means you need a live account.

It is cool though, letting your link your annotated map into your blog/photos on Live Spaces. Almost easy enough for your grandma to use though - no coding!

Heres my (documentation unfinished) trip to China: http://local.live.com/?v=2&cid=3DBF6F7940B0F681!25 2

Also, as I'm sure everyone here is a huge fan of IE and ActiveX *grin* you can install the 3D renderer, and I was suprised to see all my annotations working. While you are there, get the Live Local plugin for Outlook if you have it, it does route finding between your appointments and adds travel time. :P

Biodiesel has 0% sulphur dioxide in it. So sorry, no black smoke there.

http://search.live.com/results.aspx?q=biodiesel+su lphur+dioxide&src=IE-SearchBox

So what is it? YAMIHDE [Yet Another Microsoft In-House Database Engine]?

I could have sworn that I read a few years ago that they were ditching the existing registry engine, and were going with a new engine for Longhorn/Vista.

""According to an article [in the] New York Times, Microsoft researchers have discovered tens of thousands of junk Web pages ..."

There are plenty of pages pushing junk out there. Here's one I came across just today:

http://onecare.live.com/standard/en-us/default.htm

Looks like he's spitting the dummy now that he is out of the loop. MS are not a search company

http://www.live.com/?searchonly=true&mkt=en-US

MS dont want to be a search company

• The Battle For Better Search (April 2005)
• New Microsoft Browser Raises Google's Hackles (May 1 2006)
• Microsoft Wants More Search Share (October 27 2006)
• Microsoft puts Live services into the Labs (January 26 2006)

but as is the way when you are a perceived are the dominant IT player you must be seen to 'compete' with all the 'upstarts' to keep the share holders happy

• Online Search Hits All-Time High; Google Dominant
• (March 3 2006)
• Yahoo! gives up quest for search dominance (January 24 2006)
• Does search engine's power threaten Web's independence? (October 31 2002)

so your business heads gob off about how stupid the opposition business heads are.

Right. That's why google has to be "fucking kill"ed instead of just being allowed to die on its own.

I think most people are going to be very surprised when they realise where MS see their future and while they are currently getting slaughtered in many sections of the press over Vista they are quietly laying the ground work for the next phase, which is largely why there has been so little reaction from Redmond to the adverse press.

Vista IS the groundwork for the next phase. Everything Microsoft does is intended to extend their control over the market. Not a surprise, but still true.

Doesn't this violate the Sherman Antitrust Act: where a monopoly cannot use their market power (IE: existing customer base) to extend into other fields / markets.

If cross-subsidies from monopoly to competitive markets are considered potentially anticompetitive, a rule against mixed bundling should be based not on a comparison of price and cost, but on the market power in the bundled-product markets. The less likely it is that A is earning monopoly profits in the market for one bundled product, the less concern there is that a mixed bundle could have anticompetitive effects.

My choices for best cell phone 'features' (since that's what the article is about).

Google SMS (46645) - any info you want, available in a text msg
Gmail - java interface is fast and very usable even on a mobile screen
Google Maps - map or satellite view just like the website, and now with live traffic
-(am I a Google sackrider yet?)
http://mobile.live.com/ - MS Live has business searches, maps, directions ... actually gives Google Maps a run for it's money
radio4pda - streaming internet radio from around the world
AOL Mobile - Hate AOL, but they have links to mapquest, moviephone, local news/weather, etc...


I use a Samsung i607 (Blackjack) with Cingular's Media Max 200 Plan: Unlimited data on their 3G network ... about 900kb/s downstream anywhere in Dallas

Before slamming the format, please read more about it. Regardless of what you think about Microsoft, I think it has great potential. Some highlights:

• High dynamic range
• Embedded ICC color profile
• Lossy and lossless compression
• Ability to decode part of the image without decoding the whole thing (see below)
• Ability to crop, downsample (i.e. thumbnails), and rotate without decoding the whole image
• Very efficient encoding and decoding, useful not only on the desktop, but also specifically designed for fast encoding and decoding on devices like digital cameras
• High quality and small file size. (Around half the file size as JPEG (or) twice the quality. Claimed to be similar to JPEG 2000 without the additional performance and memory impact.)
• TIFF-like container
• The licence for the format *is* supposedly compatible with the GPL; only the source code for the reference implementation is not.

Also, take a look at http://labs.live.com/photosynth and http://blogs.msdn.com/billcrow. To quote one thing from his blog:

Because this is a compressed domain operation, the server never had to decode or re-encode the compressed data to create this low resolution "thumbnail" of the larger, high resolution image. The only work involved was to copy a portion of the compressed data and wrap it up in a container to make a new HD Photo file. This very small HD Photo file is sent across the network connection, and then decoded by the HD Photo codec on the client to provide the low resolution view required for the particular display.

When zooming in to the fine details of a high resolution image, the HD Photo codec is able to very quickly extract an arbitrary rectangular region by accessing only the image tiles that overlap that region. Like the mipmaps described above, this is accomplished by simply extracting a small portion of the compressed data and building a new (and very small) HD Photo file to be sent across the network. The client receives and decodes this small file, combining it with the other segments required to display the required view.

IMHO this seems like a well-balanced format that has most of the advantages of a cornucopia of different formats (JPEG, JPEG 2000, RAW, TIFF) without the corresponding disadvantages. If it's not successful, I at least hope something equivalent is!

maps.live.com has been doing most of this stuff for ages already.

GNU/Linux

1. Microsoft attempt to compete with GNU/Linux via conventional methods: reducing cost (releasing free--as in beer--versions of products), advertising that TCO is higher for Linux than Windows (it's a lie, but what else should we expect them to say?)
2. Conventional methods fail so Microsoft falls-back to good old fashioned dirty tricks: making spurious allegations about 'intellectual property'.
3. ...
4. Profit!

Google

1. Microsoft attempts to compete with Google via conventional methods: producing a competing services with similar capabilities. Then advertise the services as usual, and throw in a bit of IE7 integration in the name of 'choice'.
2. Conventional methods fail so Microsoft falls-back to good old fashioned dirty tricks: making spurious allegations about 'intellectual property'.
3. Throw chair across room
4. ...
5. Profit!

Personally am getting a feeling of: 'same bilge, different day' from Microsoft.

First, keep whatever mail and address you already use and leave the uni one just for uni announcements. Check it once a week - no big deal.

Second,a cursory glance at the Windows Live website finds the Windows Live Mail Desk top Beta, which appears to be a standalone (Windows only of course) client that will download the Live mail messages. The claim that e-mail can only be accessed via web mail seems to be not correct.

Really, I can't think that this is a real problem for this guy. What with hotmail, yahoo mail, gmail etc he can pretty much have his main address and e-mail anywhere he likes. He could even pay for a regular ISP account and manage all of his mail any way that he chooses.

Mark me as troll all you want, but I have been working in real corporations with real people for 7 years now. I know what real people want, and that is Windows OS with Office. This may change in 10 years as new generations step up to the work force, but today there is no place for Linux or Google in the enterprise for end users. The only thing worthy that Google had until this point is Google Earth and Desktop Search. New windows desktop search rocks the world and has a much nicer user experience, and give me http://maps.live.com/ anytime.

Read the article.

I read the article you cited. It is misleading and crap.
It generally proceeds from its premise (that MS is ransoming the welfare of the children for its own profit), omits facts (like that MS is guaranteeing $100k minimum donation) that don't support this premise, and spews outright misinformation. For example, it says that "The website will try to automatically install a downloadable 'gadget' on each visitor's computer.", which is false but might deter you from visiting the site and learning more about the story.
I did discover this:

The company will guarantee a minimum donation of US$100,000 to UNHCR based on the number of queries that are generated from the search site. The rate for each query will be US$0.01. The maximum donation payable by Microsoft will be US$250,000, which would be equivalent to 25 million search queries. "Driving awareness is critical to finding lasting solutions for the millions of refugees and displaced people worldwide," said Nick Van Praag, director of UNHCR's Division of External Relations. "Through Microsoft, utilising the MSN network on behalf of ninemillion.org, we are able to generate consumer awareness that we hope will result in donations to support this important cause, giving hope to refugee youth and children."

So there you have it: the UNHCR gets a guaranteed $100k, no "ransom" required. They stand to receive as much as $250k in direct giving, and in the package they get something even more valuable: broad exposure and visibility, plus a public endorsement from one of the most philanthropic organizations in the history of the world.

They are driving site hits with human suffering.

Who, these hacks? They (and you) are the only ones banging the drum and imploring people to think about the poor suffering children here.
If you visit the promotion site you're talking about, you'll note a conspicuous absence of such ham-handed exploitation: rather, there's a direct appeal to your desire to spend a little of MS's money for a worthy cause while hopefully getting something useful for yourself in the deal. From the site, here's the pitch: "Searching for a way to help? You've found it.". This creates a win:win:win scenario- you get your search result, UNHCR gets cash and visibility, MS gets hits and visibility. This is hardly sinister; it's sustainable, smart philanthropy that accomplishes more good than just the money it delivers.

The goal is profit. That's the actual problem. And, yes, its worth criticizing.

Is it? Profit may be made via any number of methods, yet MS chose to partner with a charity and give some part of the proceeds (anybody know how much MS earns per search? Is MS taking a loss for the duration of the promotion? Does anybody know?) to the charity. Does this put the charity ahead of where it would be in net terms if Microsoft had elected to market its search product in some different way? Yes, absolutely. They're getting direct cash and broad exposure they wouldn't have gotten otherwise. So what's the problem?

You've said that no profit should ever be made by using a charity, because of some notion of conflict of interest- that if it's profitable to give to charity, MS will have an interest in creating or perpetuating the conditions that make the charity necessary- but that's put-on-your-tinfoil-hat illogical. If it's profitable to work with charities, MS will continue to do so- and there's an inexhaustible supply of worthy causes to give to- meaning that your theory (that MS will be profit-motivated to cause more children to suffer) is implausible at best. Even if 9Million.org's mission is fulfilled, there will be no want of other worthy charities to p

See this Yahoobomb, which faithfully links to the world's number one mostest miserable failure of all time.

Microsoft's search offering (a Billbomb?) only comes up with Jimmy Carter and Michael Moore, at places two and seven respectively, with the rest of the results being links to stories about the Googlebomb as it pertains to that miserable failure .

http://maps.live.com/default.aspx?v=2&cp=r3878791p nyt&style=o&lvl=1&tilt=-90&dir=0&alt=-1000&scene=9 2174

rez410@yahoo.com

Hold on a sec, someone is at my door...

http://local.live.com/ doesnt seem to have a problem with it, heck I can even do you one better than a satellite view and goto arial by air plane http://local.live.com/default.aspx?v=2&cp=42.65469 1~-71.324406&style=o&lvl=1&tilt=-90&dir=0&alt=-100 0&scene=92174&sp=Point.rybncb4tq2mh_7521%20166th%2 0Ave%20NE%2C%20Redmond%2C%20WA%2098052-7811%2C%20U nited%20States___~Point.r37wmd91pm7n_1%20Universit y%20Ave%2C%20Lowell%2C%20MA%2001854%2C%20United%20 States___ :-)...Enjoy!

http://local.live.com/ doesnt seem to have a problem with it, heck I can even do you one better than a satellite view and goto arial by air plane http://local.live.com/default.aspx?v=2&cp=42.65469 1~-71.324406&style=o&lvl=1&tilt=-90&dir=0&alt=-100 0&scene=92174&sp=Point.rybncb4tq2mh_7521%20166th%2 0Ave%20NE%2C%20Redmond%2C%20WA%2098052-7811%2C%20U nited%20States___~Point.r37wmd91pm7n_1%20Universit y%20Ave%2C%20Lowell%2C%20MA%2001854%2C%20United%20 States___ :-)...Enjoy!

It shows up on birds eye maps on Windows live local, http://local.live.com/default.aspx?v=2&cp=42.65234 7~-71.325238&style=o&lvl=1&tilt=-90&dir=0&alt=-100 0&scene=92174&sp=Point.r5nx2m92pzdk_Durham%2C%20Ne w%20Hampshire%2C%20United%20States___~Point.r521mj 91ktxf_31%20Massabesic%20Dr%2C%20Auburn%2C%20NH%20 03032%2C%20United%20States___~Point.r3srwj91b5s9_N ashua%2C%20New%20Hampshire%2C%20United%20States___ ~Point.r37wmd91pm7n_1%20University%20Ave%2C%20Lowe ll%2C%20MA%2001854%2C%20United%20States___ it should work with FireFox, you need IE for the 3D stuff

Clear as a bell from here. http://maps.live.com/default.aspx?v=2&cp=42.655361 ~-71.323929&style=o&lvl=1&tilt=-90&dir=0&alt=-1000 &scene=92174 MS Live. I think there are too many sources for this type of information for effective censorship.

http://local.live.com/default.aspx?v=2&cp=42.65459 2~-71.323001&style=h&lvl=17&tilt=-90&dir=0&alt=-10 00&scene=92179

It is B&W but a not pixelated.

It's easier to search for it on maps.live.com, but if your really want a link:
http://maps.live.com/?v=2&sp=Point.r37wmd91pm7n_1% 20University%20Ave%2C%20Lowell%2C%20MA%2001854%2C% 20United%20States___
(For some reason it's more zoomed in and not set on satellite view in the link, so you need to change that if you want to see anything.)

Yes, their images are not as high quality as Google's, but their low quality uncensored version is better than Google's.

For Windows, use IE to go to Safety.live.com - Microsoft's official online free spyware, virus detector/remover (choose your language)

As of now, it is win2003:
http://www.live.com/asdad

Cheers.

Honestly, I don't see them using anything else.

Must ... fight ... Google monopoly....

http://search.live.com/results.aspx?q=define%3A+ta g

OP might have a point that this is slashvertisement. javalobby is on the top for the 4 primary search engines.

http://search.live.com/results.aspx?q=javalobby&sr c=IE-SearchBox
http://www.ask.com/web?q=javalobby&qsrc=0&o=333&l= dir
http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=javalobby&ei=utf- 8&fr=b2ie7
http://www.google.com/search?q=javalobby&rls=com.m icrosoft:en-us&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&startIndex=&start Page=1

Indeed. I wrote a letter to a nearby district to help nip this in the bud. I would encourage others in the King County area (or even nationally) to do the same. Feel free to use my words if that is helpful.

Move your email to a different provider.

I for example have been using Windows Mail Desktop which lets me consolidate email from several emails accounts from a couple of different providers in one single place.

Ads can be turned off in the program.

You are mistaken.
See http://search.live.com/results.aspx?q=%22media%20c enter%20extender%22&scope=products&FORM=BPRE

XBox 360 is the only Vista compatible extender.
But several manufactures have announced MCE extenders for Vista at CES.

Try: http://search.live.com/results.aspx?q=mail&mkt=en- US&FORM=LVCP&go.x=0&go.y=0&go=Search

I don't see "Hotmail" in the first place. but..

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=mail&btnG=Goo gle+Search

I see "Gmail" in the first place.

Nobody is stopping you from using those other search engines.

Ahh but you have to understand: Sandy Burger accidentally stuck those pages in his socks and underwear. In fact, he wasn't even aware they were there! The hypocrisy on the left is amazing. - Anthony Visit My Blog

Uh Oh... too bad

In theory a problem for all the "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em (*ahem* confuse 'em?)" school of search destinations, but.. Google will never enforce the patent, so its probably moot...
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graphically speaking