Apple Campus Missing From MSN Earth

webguru4god writes "The Register has an article detailing a significant omission from Microsoft's new Virtual Earth application. Apparently the satellite image view of 1 Infinite Loop in Cupertino, CA shows a large empty lot, whereas Google Maps shows the sprawling Apple campus. Hmmm, I wonder if the Google campus is missing too?"

Not the only change....

[gbulmash]

This is a really interesting map. It's also missing the houses of everyone who was mean to Bill Gates in high school. The FSF headquarters have been replaced with a pirate ship, OSDL is replaced with an image of a black hole, and there's real time tracking of Linus Torvalds' location with a bullseye symbol.

- G

It's Biblical, laugh!

[garcia]

I know that most of you don't run IE but for those of us that do, Apple's HQ didn't appear as an empty lot, instead it looked like a fiery inferno with Jobs sitting on a throne of iPods!

I tried to find Google's campus on the map but all I could find was a serpent and a tree holding the most succulent fruit. Strange, I didn't think that their campus looked anything like that...

Microsoft's HQ, OTOH, was the Garden of Eden with little rabbits and naked nymphs running around. Bill was sitting there laughing because another person bought a copy of Windows and the fire grew brighter where Apple's HQ was supposed to be.

I was thinking God, I really need to switch to another browser, these exploits are of Biblical proportions and then I watched as Bill reached out from MSN Maps, grabbed me by the throat and said, "THEY AREN'T EXPLOITS!"

Scary!

older pics?

[ginotech]

Nothing for you to see here. Please move along.
How suiting...Anyway, aren't the MSN pics pretty old compared to google's anyway?

Microsoft outsourcing...

[silentbozo]

Dangit, I told Bill not to outsource this project to those workers from that alternate universe!

Re:It's just an old map

[MrAnnoyanceToYou]

Interesting / amusing, however, that M$ uses 11 year old pictures for its maps. At least if it's a conspiracy they're a full decade behind on their grand master plan.

Exactly

[sterno]

If you look at the area around the apple head quarters you can see a lot of undeveloped areas. There's a bunch of roads to the north which look like a housing development. In the MSN map, it's dirt, in the google map it's a bunch of houses.

So MSN's map service sucks apparently :)

Quote from Bill G...

[TiggertheMad]

"Apple's campus missing? I had not scheduled phase 3 of the plant to begin until November. SMITHERS, you idiot, we have tipped our hand again!"

Re:It's just an old map

[failure-man]

So maybe it's no conspiracy, but it does mean that Microsoft is using ancient, shitty image sets for MSN Earth.

Google is much more evil

[Rosco P. Coltrane]

Whenever I look at maps from Google Earth, I see they've laser-etched "Google" all over the Earth's surface from space. I mean, they even charred my roof with the upper part of the L ferchrissake!

Evil or funny?

[Old VMS Junkie]

If Microsoft deleted Apple, it's an evil conspiracy. If someone else deleted Microsoft (C'mon Google! DOOOOO EEEEEET!) it'd be funny. Just 'cause Billy is a Borg doesn't mean that everyone at Microsoft is humorless.

Re:Exactly

[jalet]

> So MSN's map service sucks apparently :)

Who would have thought ?

Black Laser Technology

[4of12]

Steve Jobs's penchant for high absorptivity wardrobe combined with his obsession for personal privacy probably explains why MS sees nothing.

Re:It's just an old map

[Anonymous Coward]

Naturally it's Timothy that posts this completely useless story trying to turn this into some sort of MS conspiracy.

Really cool!

[LesPaul75]

Wow, I just tried out the MSN maps thing for the first time, and I gotta say, it kicks ass! The way you can click-and-drag the map around is spectacular. And the way you can switch between the satellite view and the regular map is sweeeeeet!! Holy cow, you can even search for local businesses right on the map! WOW! Try it out -- just type in anything, like "hotels near lax" or "pizza" and prepare to be amazed!

See people, you guys badmouth Microsoft all the time, but these guys obviously know how to innovate! All you slashdot trolls just got PWNED by Microsoft, baby. WOOT!!1

</sarcasm>

Re:It's just an old map

[iocat]

It's not like, super cheap, or easy to get high resolution, cloud-free shots of the Earth. At MSN's Virtual Earth's highest resolution, it the pictures are clearly taken by a plane, not a satellite (a LandSat or similar image would never have the resolving power to detect the hedge in my front yard). The USGS just doesn't do that crap everyday. Or rather they do, but it's a big country to take such large scale images of. I'm not surprised some images are years out of date.

On Google Maps, the highest resolution pix appear to be taken by satellite and are significantly lower resolution, although they probably are newer. (In either case, both services draw roads in Oakland, CA that no longer exist, and conflict with the photographic data...)

I didn't d/l the Google Earth app, because, that would require work, but I remember testing it when it was the old Keyhole technology and it was about the same quality as the MSN app.

Re:I estimate: 1989

[Lispy]

It's also boring B/W while googles maps are color.

Hey, sidenote, if you come to visit my hometown munich, germany for soccer championship (I know you US guys couldn't care less) next year be sure to check out our new stadion [google.com] wich is a true beauty [allianz-arena.de] by now and got deleted from MSN with my entire country. :)

Re:It's just an old map

[Killer Instinct]

In Microsoft's images the strip mall has been replaced by the current small commercial complex and condos and my new garage with solar panels is clearly visible.
...
(and no, I'm not going to post my home address for people to compare images. I'm just too paranoid to do that :)

I guess the solar panels on your new garage arent a dead give away....

Re:It's just an old map

[Anonymous Coward]

MS was smart to show old maps for their competitor's building. The new maps are so detailed that they not only show what is on people's computer screens. The new maps show what is on people's mind.

If Apple employees knew that Bill Gates could actually look into their minds, then there would be more people wearing tinfoil hats...pretty much negating the advantages of the technology.

Re:It's just an old map

[chris_mahan]

I suppose it was because you could see the sunlight reflecting off the tinfoil hats that MS did not include the picture... That and the "Micro$aft Suxxor" spelled out at a crop circle in the lawn.

That would be a good hack, knowing when the sat was going to update and cutting out date/time in the lawn with a large lawn mower. then seeing in on google maps.

Apple Cloaking Devices working Properly

[WillAffleckUW]

ignore the large complex of buildings you see before you, they are not on MSFT's radar ... or Google's ...

Re:It's just an old map

[Exatron]

Don't we already know where he is thanks to the tracking device in his fillings?

"Vista Dr" a la vista!!

[jose_terranova]

Hey guys... the world is really small... VISTA DR (Windows Vista??) is a street near from Apple HQ... very good!!

Could be worse...

[AtariEric]

They could be showing a giant crater...

Stuck in a loop.

[InvaderSkoodge]

Obviously, the MSN earth server didn't like the concept of drawing an infinite loop.

Re:Not the only change....

[sharkey]

there's real time tracking of Linus Torvalds' location with a bullseye symbol.

Thank God it's Microsoft, then. Anyone shooting for Linus will probably hit themselves in the foot.

Re:Apple Cloaking Devices working Properly

[vastabo]

I think you confused "Cloaking Devices" with "Reality Distortion Field." It's probably acting up since Steve switched to Intel.

Re:Google uses blending, Terraserver used cuts

[Bob 535604]

In both cases it's obviously something automated, look at these links:
A person would have caught these
http://virtualearth.msn.com/default.aspx?cp=36.056 665%7C-79.131897&style=h&lvl=16&v=1 [msn.com]
http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=36.054650,-79.13237 6&spn=0.011717,0.020792&t=k&hl=en [google.com]

I think they're funny

Re:Google uses blending, Terraserver used cuts

[Momoru]

A lot of the Terraserver stuff is still black and white, but actually the color stuff they have looks a lot better then some similar Google stuff. Take a look at Washington DC and zoom in all the way on both. You can see individual air conditioning unit on buildings with Microsoft. Even NSA headquarters in Ft Meade, MD is so clear on the Microsoft one I can tell what each make of car in the parking lot is....actually you can even see...wait, is that....