Microsoft MSN Unveils Virtual Earth
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Now that Microsoft has recognized Google as a potential threat to its future revenue stream, the company has been trying to create "Google killers." A recent entry in this area is a response to Google's satellite imagery. But will MSN's Virtual Earth really deliver something more helpful to its users than Google's offering? Indeed, will it even live up to its own hype?
Not too long ago I wrote an article about Google’s new satellite imagery feature. The innovation allows users to see actual images of the locations they are searching for, and even zoom in to get a good view of buildings and the surrounding area. Seeing those visuals could help prevent people from getting lost, especially when traveling to an unfamiliar address for the first time.
Near the end, I observed that any feature Google has, the other search engines will try to have within a couple of months. But I figured that satellite imagery might be a little trickier to copy. Google had purchased a digital mapping company in order to bring the expertise in house; I didn’t expect Yahoo or MSN Search to try to duplicate this feat, at least not for a while.
Naturally, I ran up against one of the hazards of making predictions in a fast-moving field like high technology. Breakthroughs are made almost daily, and anything that one person or company can accomplish, another can duplicate, and even improve upon. This trend is only heightened amid fierce competition, such as we’ve seen developing over the past couple of years between Microsoft and Google.
On May 23, at the D3 conference in Carlsbad,California, Bill Gates unveiled MSN Virtual Earth. No, this is not the incredibly fast Japanese supercomputer created by NEC; it is Microsoft’s answer to Google’s satellite imagery. By some accounts, MSN Virtual Earth inspired the very first “ooohhhh” moment of the conference, topping Steve Jobs’ podcasts in iTunes.
That must have been personally satisfying for Gates, who spent a significant amount of time during his talk focused on Apple killers as well as Google killers. But it leaves those of us who couldn’t make the conference wondering what inspired that moment. After all, PowerPoint presentations are forbidden at this particular conference.
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