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Microsoft and Google Fighting for the Skies

Posted by Zonk on from the nuke-the-site-from-orbit-only-way-to-be-sure dept.

Robert writes "Today's SF Chronicle has an article about Microsoft and Google's new battle for the skies. Both companies now have similar products that combine maps and satellite photos. Roads and driving directions can be superimposed on imagery on both products." From the article: "Google and Microsoft are engaged in a major battle over Internet users. Each has unveiled a series of features designed to keep users loyal and grab a bigger share of the lucrative search-engine market. Yahoo, in Sunnyvale, also is a major competitor, though its executives have yet to express any interest in aerial images. Amazon.com offers street- level photographs of businesses through its A9.com search engine. "

24 of 278 comments (clear)

  1. it just doesn't seem like them by sweeney37 · · Score: 3, Funny

    I'm absolutely shocked by the way Microsoft took someone else's idea and co-opted it to be their own. just shocked.

    Mike

    1. Re:it just doesn't seem like them by MushMouth · · Score: 4, Funny

      this page was active in January of 1999, maybe google should stop copying other peoples ideas.

    2. Re:it just doesn't seem like them by cazbar · · Score: 3, Funny
      I can see the Microsoft patent attempt coming now...

      Method for showing simulated cheese when zoomed in on maps of the moon.

      Sorry Google, your creations are our property.

      (click here and zoom in if I lost you)

    3. Re:it just doesn't seem like them by donutello · · Score: 3, Informative

      Well, to be fair, you would have to note that MSN put roadmaps right on top of the photos within days of Google launching this feature so it's extremely unlikely that they copied it (not enough time) and more likely that they were planning this all along and were just a little late to the party.

      --
      Mmmm.. Donuts
    4. Re:it just doesn't seem like them by umeshunni · · Score: 5, Interesting

      FWIW, Google didn't build Google maps or Google earth. NEITHER were invented by google. Both were acquisitions (WhereTo and Keyhole respectively.
      Interesting to note a lot of the hypocrisy related to innovation vs acquisition over the last few days. It seems that when Microsoft acquires a company or technology, it is labeled as playing catch up. When Google acquires a company (or 2 in this case) they are widely credited as innovators.

  2. Canada by gregmac · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Too bad MSN doesn't work in Canada at all, while Google works great. I do find it kind of funny that "Virtual Earth" is USA-only.. ;)

    That said, MSN has hi-res images of my cottage (which is right on the border, and only JUST made it in) while Google only has low-res images of that area.

    --
    Speak before you think
  3. fighting for the skies? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    sweet, I hope it's somewhere over San Diego.. that place is a hellhole and could use a few fighter jets raining death over them...

  4. Hmmm.... by slapout · · Score: 4, Funny

    ....wonder when we'll see the beta of "Google Flight Simulator"....

    --
    Coder's Stone: The programming language quick ref for iPad
  5. msn maps sux by poison_reverse · · Score: 3, Insightful

    the satellite images they are using are sometimes 10 years old or more! Google's images are very recent and accurate. Nice try Micrsoft but google has you beat on this one.

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    1. Re:msn maps sux by Goose+In+Orbit · · Score: 4, Interesting

      According to The Register MS still has the Twin Towers in all their finery (but Apple HQ seems not to have been built yet)

  6. So Yahoo won't do aerial images ... by tomhudson · · Score: 4, Funny
    Since Google's motto is "do no evil", and Microsoft wants the home market, I guess Yahoo! will have to "settle" for porn images.

    Gee, in that case I KNOW who'll make more money off their image search! AND have the most loyal customers ...

  7. New features coming soon! by Kisil · · Score: 3, Funny

    Word on the streets is Microsoft is planning an innovative news filtering application that will bring content from multiple sources into one easy-to-read page. Microsoft also has alleged plans for an innovative desktop search application that will allow users fast and easy access to content on their own machines.

    Both features due early in 2009. No word yet on whether these features will be supported for non-microsoft browsers.

  8. Mapping Abilities are Growing by PepeGSay · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I've implemented mapping solutions for large vendor applications and the business benefits for it are awesome when it is implemented properly. The major impediment was the multiple thousand dollar cost. Web solutions allow the data holder to centralize the data, update it more often and fix issues faster. Googles *and* Mircrosoft's work on allowing you to overlay custom data is brilliant when you consider that Google maps can now be a service within an application architecture. Microsoft is not coopting or stealing Google's idea, far from it. This concept and its use in software is probably 20 years old and it has been becomeing more and more mainstream in applications. It is just being brought to the masses now.

  9. Quality... by ktakki · · Score: 4, Insightful
    Both Google Maps and MSN Virtual Earth are supposedly "beta" products, but MSN VE looks more like a proof-of-concept than a beta. Compare equivalent views of Long Island Sound:

    MSN Virtual Earth

    Google


    It's not as if the Sound, Long Island's North Shore, or the Connecticut Shoreline areas haven't been photographed countless times by state and Federal agencies. I'm surprised that Microsoft exposed something that looks so slapdash to the public.

    Oh, wait...

    k.
    --
    "In spite of everything, I still believe that people are really good at heart." - Anne Frank
    1. Re:Quality... by MrScience · · Score: 3, Informative

      Right. And comparing the space needle yields different results (MSN has higher detailed imagery). They are both in beta.

      --

      You quitting proves that the karma kap worked. The most annoying of the whores shut up. --CmdrTaco

  10. Re:The Winner in the long-term by borawjm · · Score: 3, Funny


    The first one that allows me to spy on the hot blonde down the street while she's sunbathing will be my winner

  11. Canada? by Quiet_Desperation · · Score: 5, Funny
    Yeah, but that's Canada, man. Do they even need maps? I mean... is there anything *to* map? Other than moose migration vectors, barren tundric wastelands, scattered impact crater remnants and the Molson brewing plant, what the hell else is there worth getting a map to?

    Hey, I'm teasing! Calm down!

  12. That's easy by overshoot · · Score: 5, Funny
    Use Google to see where you are and where you're going.

    Use MSN to see where you grew up before the freeway went through.

    --
    Lacking <sarcasm> tags, /. substitutes moderation as "Troll."
    1. Re:That's easy by b.thompson · · Score: 4, Interesting

      True! MSN is still using pictures from early 1997. My house was built in May of 97 and MSN still shows it as an empty lot. You'd think they'd actually try to put something recent together instead of just cobbling up a new interface to Terrasever. http://terraserver.microsoft.com/

  13. Um you have heard of TerraServer right? by MSFanBoi · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Microsoft has been doing this for a LONG time. Much longer than Google. What were you saying now???

  14. Don't see the point of either. by papasui · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I like the maps available with both services and have extended Google Map API into some pretty neat tools. I don't see a ton of use out of the current imagery offered by either service though. In both cases the resolution offered makes it hard to identify most places. Is it just for the 'cool' factor or are there really significant uses for it? I'm assuming there must be and I just don't know what they are. To me the street maps are 100x more useful, which is also the reason I don't understand the use of Google Earth. Sure I think it's very cool but why doesn't it include the street maps, and what is the use of putting the 3D shape of buildings on it? I'm being 100% serious, someone please enlighten me.

  15. WAY out of date by Quiet_Desperation · · Score: 5, Funny
    OK, I can forgive if the some of the stuff is a little out of date, but this is just ridiculous.

    MS Virtual Earth zoomed all the way out

  16. Competition? by Sierpinski · · Score: 4, Insightful

    In most other realms, competition is viewed as a good thing. It seems that with Microsoft (or any other large software company) that they want to completely squash the opposition.

    Where did that land them before? In court for an anti-trust lawsuit. (Which seems to have had very little, if any, impact on them as a company. How many billions of dollars busiess do they do in a year?)

    Competition should be the motivation to strive for excellence, not to hit your competition over the head with a giant iron hammer that still has yet to be patched with SP2.

    --
    And they said zombies weren't real!
  17. What? by Saeed+al-Sahaf · · Score: 4, Informative

    You ARE aware that Microsoft had both maps AND sat images before Google, right?

    --
    "Who are in control, they are not in control of anything - they don't even control themselves!" - Glen Beck