Comments on: Photosynth Could Spark Virtual Earth Comeback

By: Jason Barone

Jason Barone — Tue, 19 May 2009 14:41:43 +0000

I didn’t like Photosynth when I tried it. I think they still have a lot of work to do if they want their products to catch on. It was a pain just to get everything installed to where I could actually view the photosynth website, I believe they required you to download their software bundle which contained not one, but TWO programs…
MS products seem too bulky and bloated for the average person. I have an excellent computer setup going which has never crashed once on me in like a year, then I installed Virtual Earth and it crashes….

Google is way ahead of MS. Better APIs, better integration, easier to use, better UI, lower cost.

I’m willing to bet there’s a ton of companies out there that only use Virtual Earth because of their “bird’s eye” view pictures. When Google gets this, it’s going to be game over.

By: Mike Gallagher

Mike Gallagher — Tue, 12 May 2009 09:48:42 +0000

I agree with the first few comments. As a developer of online search tools my primary concern is cost, and Google has Microsoft beat.

I think it’s a very slick app, but Microsoft offers an API similar to Google I’ll probably never use it.

By: Laguna Niguel Real Estate

Laguna Niguel Real Estate — Sat, 09 May 2009 18:34:56 +0000

I’ve used this software. With a user-friendly visual aspect and the coolest thing is that a bottom-right icon allows you to have a synth occupy your entire browser window. Also, you can improve the view further by putting your browser into full-screen mode with your F11 function key.

By: Kori Covrigaru

Kori Covrigaru — Sat, 09 May 2009 16:58:12 +0000

VE doesn’t have a flash API. This is our biggest barrier when considering VE vs. Google or Yahoo! Hopefully this changes soon.

By: Travis

Travis — Fri, 08 May 2009 17:55:47 +0000

yeah right now companies are going to want to efficiency and cost cutting. This new type of imaging is going to be amazing though.

By: Galen

Galen — Thu, 07 May 2009 21:57:51 +0000

Google maps are as good or better technically and the price difference between Google Maps and Microsoft is just too great.

The dumb money – the money tied up in board meetings and memo-driven decision making uses Microsoft Maps. The smart money scrimps where it can.