Microsoft MSN Unveils Virtual Earth - Some Implications
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It has been said before that Microsoft has a talent for copying the products of its competitors and leveraging its monopoly power. With that advantage, the software giant doesn’t need to make a better product; it just needs to make a good enough product, as Corel, Netscape, and others have learned. Google seems to be pushing Microsoft back into innovating, though. More than ninety percent of Web surfers may use Microsoft’s Internet Explorer to navigate online, but most of them visit Google to find out where they want to go today.
The new technology, if it works as intended, might make Amazon’s A9 service even less of a contender than it is currently. Amazon has been using trucks equipped with digital cameras and global positioning receivers to take millions of photographs across the streets of the U.S. It aims to combine these photographs with business listings to let users put themselves virtually where they want to go. Granted, seeing the storefront at street level may be more helpful than seeing it in a bird’s eye view –- but I still have not been impressed with A9’s image delivery. I have yet to turn up a picture for a location, except for very well-known locations (such as the White House).
Yankee Group analyst Su Li Walker seems to think it will be a little while before we see competition in this area begin to pay off for the rivals. “This is still a novelty, but there are applications for virtual mapping which could prove popular,” she said.
Certainly, the folks who are working on MSN Virtual Earth are very excited about the technology’s possibilities. Chandu Thota, part of the team building the project, had this to say about it in his blog: “Virtual Earth is a fusion of many exciting dimensions that we experience from multiple sources today; it provides a core set of reference points such as maps, aerial imagery, photos, consumer and business directories and ratings and reviews and allow the broader community of consumers and businesses to contribute their own location-specific information to create an always expanding, dynamic and relevant local search experience.” Taken to its logical conclusion, it almost sounds like a redefinition of the phrase “virtual community.”
Richard Kaplan, president and chief executive officer of Pictometry, also sounds pumped: “MSN Virtual Earth will redefine the way people find, discover and plan activities. We are thrilled Pictometry will be part of creating these new and important experiences.”
When MSN Virtual Earth finally goes live, will it really have this much of an impact? Certainly not immediately. Indeed, if Google’s satellite imagery feature is any indication, the initial consequences will be unintended; many folks have used it almost like a big Easter egg hunt to find things that were “accidentally” imaged, such as the initial set up for the annual Burning Man festival. People have already seen that it can be fun; it just needs to prove that it can be useful. It could be that –- if it lives up to its hype.
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