A month ago, while writing about Google Earth, I mentioned MSN Virtual Earth, Microsoft's new foray into aerial mapping and local information. The service went live last night (in a Google-style public beta), and is available at virtualearth.msn.com. And I've just spent some time playing with it.
You don't need to delve very deeply into MSN Virtual Earth to realize that, similar name aside, it's not really a Google Earth rival, yet alone a Google Earth killer. Google Earth is a hefty Windows download; Virtual Earth is browser-based (mostly--more on that in a moment). Google Earth does amazing, earth-spanning animations; Virtual Earth doesn't.
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