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Virtual Earth 3D Beta Launched
Lord Satri writes "Microsoft has announced the launch of Virtual Earth 3D. There are numerous screenshots to be seen, as well as a Google Earth comparison from Spatially Adjusted. You can read the Google Earth Blog on why he thinks it's not a threat to Google. C|Net's coverage and the official press release provide lots of concrete details of the product. You can also read more from the development side or see the CBS report on Virtual Earth 3D. My main gripe: Windows and Internet Explorer 6/7 only. From the official press release: 'When people visit Live Search, type a query into the search box and click the "Maps" tab, they get their search results in a map context that offers the option to explore the area using two-dimensional views (aerial and bird's-eye) or three dimensional models with Virtual Earth 3D. This new technology compiles photographic images of cities and terrain to generate textured, photorealistic 3-D models with engineering level accuracy.'"
> I tried to test this but it is for IE explorer only. So Google wins by default.
Insightful? That's probably why the write up at the top of the page says:
"My main gripe: Windows and Internet Explorer 6/7 only."
Why does Google know that allows them to not be tied to a given OS or browser? Or does Microsoft perceive this as some sort of killer app which Linux users and people who generally only like browser which aren't inherently unsafe won't be able to resist? I suppose there's a small market for people who want to be able to see, in 3d, precisely where on the planet their pc is being owned from...
but not among the 80-90% of users for whom IE remains the default browser.