Wow. I never thought I would say this but for a Beta, I am amazed at 1) Windows Live Local beating Google to the punch and putting this Web 2.0 application up, 2) how well Firefox 1.5 on Fedora Core 4 is supported, 3) the level of detail that Windows Live Local exhibits. I was able to zoom in on my elementary school with “Birds Eye” view and see that the picture hasn’t been updated in a few years. I also found that the location for my house on the map was incorrect but I was able to find my office with no problem.
Microsoft is obviously putting in a lot of work and emphasizing the “Web Desktopification” that is slowly happening with applications like JotSpot, Writely, etc. I am not a fan of Microsoft but competition from Google, Yahoo/Del.icio.us, JotSpot, Flickr and other Web 2.0 companies have given Microsoft a wake-up call. Whether this means that Microsoft will change their ways, I doubt it.
technorati tags: windows, microsoft, windows-live, web2.0