Slashdot Mirror
Google Earth 5.0 Silently Changes Update Policy
mario_grgic writes "Recently announced Google Earth version 5.0 adds interesting new features like images of ocean floors and some detailed images of Mars. But it also brings another unwelcome change for Mac OS X users. Google Software update daemon is installed when the application is launched for the first time. The user is greeted with an uninformative message that does not really explain what is about to happen. After the user accepts, Google Update Agent is downloaded and installed. It updates all Google applications and not just Google Earth. Also, it runs on an unchangeable schedule of its own (instead of, say, only when one of Google's apps is launched), consuming system resources. Worst of all it can not be simply removed, since it is downloaded and installed again once Google Earth is launched. Users really have only two choices: live with it, or uninstall all Google apps. There's a discussion about the updater in this Google Group, including details of a way to disable it (not for the faint of heart). So fellow Slashdotters, has Google crossed the line?"
Wow, I guess you don't know how to read: "So don't install Google Earth."
i.e. don't install it to begin with
No, because that makes far too much sense.
I'm sure the automatic updater will remove itself the day Google Earth comes out of beta.
Maybe you should threaten google that you will stop paying them if they don't update the images.
I have you beat. Everytime I close iTunes (without my iPod plugged in even), it decides I didn't really want to do that and opens back up again. I have to camp on the process monitor and premptively kill the process two or three times before it'll stop trying to come back to life.
I've been told an uninstall/reinstall will fix it, but if it does, the problem seems common enough that it only 'does' for a couple of runs.
If I were you, I would phone Google and ask for my money back!
Oh wait...
Clearly OSX is not ready for the desktop.
Let me amend my earlier posting. Our Search & Rescue Team is 100% voluntary. We provide our own gas and vehicles. To say we don't have a pot to p*ss in would be an understatement. The area we cover is around 8000 square miles. Much of that is pretty rugged country and more often than not, the Google Earth imagery is useless to us. At the same time, we're dealing with USGS topo maps that haven't been updated since man walked erect. What I'm seriously asking for is a point of contact who can at least enlighten me as to why some areas are updated on what appears to be a monthly basis when there are so many areas that are woefully out of date. And yes I have looked at a commercial product. It's VERY expensive. Clearly there is some method that Google uses to get current imagery. I'd just like to find out how you get on their satellite schedule. BTW, snarky comments aren't helpful. I'll remember them next time you get lost.
iTunes keeps opening for me.
I don't even have it installed.
Shhhh! Don't tell these guys how to actually operate their computers. They're clearly know-it-alls who know better than you. And besides, what will they bitch about?
So who killed JFK? Why did the CEO of Coca-Cola change the recipe back in the 80's when he assumed control of the company? Why were there no aircraft fuselage fragments at the Pentagon "crash site" on 9/11?
Lee Harvey Oswald; because you always downplay the achievements of the last administration; there were, you're just an idiot.