January 2009 Virtual Earth Imagery Release

Six versions of Windows 7. So much for just having the two rumoured earlier. Of course Microsoft cannot get these things right.

I'm amazed at how much more visual imagery there is in Microsoft's Virtual Earth compared to Google Earth; each location in VE has 5 shots: top-down, and the four "Bird's Eye" views from north, south, east, and west. Also, there seems to be far more 3-D buildings in VE than in GE. Does anyone know why Google Earth lacks or omits the very useful and detailed "Bird's Eye" imagery found in VE?

robertsjoe: If you actually read the article and did 5 minutes of google research instead of just reading the headline you'd have realized that the UAC change does not make Windows 7 less secure than Vista. What Microsoft did was make UAC more configurable. With Windows 7 you can choose to have it annoy you more or less by using a slider to adjust the notifications to your comfort level. With Vista you could either have UAC turned on or off. Now you will have more options. A user choosing to turn security features down or off will make the operating system more prone to malware attacks but that is the choice of the user - it doesn't mean the OS itself is less secure. Users can also turn off the firewall or run without any anti-virus. Those are choices - not OS security vulnerabilities. And what the hell do your comments have to do with Virtual Earth anyways?? Way, way off topic this time.

Shmanky: The Bird's Eye View feature is not satellite imagery. They get that view by flying a plane around snapping pictures of the ground from all angles. Google hasn't taken that step yet. They're too busy driving their Google Street View truck around running over deer. http://tinyurl.com/deaup8

"And what the hell do your comments have to do with Virtual Earth anyways?? Way, way off topic this time." :-) I guess he had another bad day at school. You didn't answer my question, robertsjoe. What do you want to be when you grow up? "Google hasn't taken that step yet. They're too busy driving their Google Street View truck around running over deer." Google gets more press for what it does. That's the reason it seems like Microsoft's actions are reactionary.

Windows 7 making it easier for malware authors http://www.withinwindows.com/2009/02/04/windows-7-auto-elevation-mistake... Things are looking up for Windows 7

I am starting to think that I was wrong about robertsjoe...he probably isn't a little zit faced kid...rather, I think that he is the sadest, most obsessed person that I have ever experienced on the intertubes. I really feel sorry for the guy. He needs to get a woman and learn what real life is all about. What a waste of space on Earth he is....but, on the other hand...I recant all of that...he's just a zit faced little teenager that can barely make it through a day at school because of his anticipation to get to mommy and daddy's basement and on the iMac to post his illiterate rants on a Windows site. --tayme

Ocean: Doppelganger? I'm not sure it means what you think it means. "dop·pel·gäng·er or dop·pel·gang·er (dŏp'əl-gāng'ər, -gěng'-) n. A ghostly double of a living person, especially one that haunts its fleshly counterpart." I'm not sure what's more disturbing... being called a ghost or thinking of Mike Galos as my "fleshy counterpart".

"I'm not sure what's more disturbing... being called a ghost or thinking of Mike Galos as my "fleshy counterpart"." How do you think I feel about it...

"I'm not sure what's more disturbing... being called a ghost or thinking of Mike Galos as my "fleshy counterpart"." I think what's more disturbing is that you're supposedly haunting mikegalos. "think that he is the sadest, most obsessed person that I have ever experienced on the intertubes." You have seen bonch at work, haven't you? :-) Hey, but it hasn't been all bad - Ocean has toned it down for fear of being compared to robertsjoe.

"As someone that survived the bonch years, I do at least give rj some credit for not being *that* bad." He is pretty close...I remember bonch's posts on MacWorld days...he was truly obsessed with everything Apple. Maybe rj is bonch with a couple of years of maturity??? --tayme

@tayme: Re: Windows 7 file-type linking from previous article (I've been too busy to respond) The Windows 7 taskbar contains links to programs when they're not running. You could always drag and drop files onto program links. Windows interprets it similarly to a run command where you have " ". It doesn't change file type associations in other OS versions. (Let me know if it does in 7) That's been in Windows for as long as I can remember (dating back to probably at least 3.1). FYI: You can do the same thing with icons in a standard Quick Launch folder too, but small icons in Quick Launch make it difficult to maneuver with the mouse. If you don't see the black insert bar then you're probably over an app icon.

I remember on more than one occasion bonch leaving a couple pages of 10 comments a piece in a row of nothingness. Now that is an uber-troll. Luckily rj has not stooped that low.

"Live Earth vs. Google Earth - Which One Is Better?" Considering that they're totally different things, how do you even compare them? Live Earth is the entertainment thing that Al Gore and some other guy came up with.