TheIdeaMan

Interesting. Great to see Google getting involved in everything. Maybe they'll eventually design an operating system and take the monopoly away from Microsoft. Naw... what came over me?! :)

As far as substance goes, I just did one sample trip route... from where I am now to my parents house. Most of the route was decent, but it had one oddity - it cut off the intersection of two Baltimore interestates by one exit and proposed taking local roads to "cut the corner" there. I don't know anybody around here who would try that maneuver unless there was an accident at the interchange...

I was just checking out some of Google's Beta stuff yesterday and didn't see this.

My initial look says "Cool" and I'm a big Delorme stand-alone mapping software fan. I didn't try any of the search features, just zoomed and panned. It's pretty quick on my dialup.

I have also wondered what Google could do with an operating system. Give it a go!

I think Google's choosen a good route to take. Their "monopoly" is built on innovation rather than assimilation. They have a product that people want to us, rather than one that people have to use. I think that's why I like Google and am much less than a fan of Microsoft.

As far as Operating Systems are concerned, I think they've also picked a good route and left the OS haggling to the current contenders and have chosen to take on the OS-nuetral market via standards compliant browsers. One of my hopes is that thier push (and those that will follow them) towards more dynamic browser-based "applications" (such as GMail) will promote standards and improved implementations of them.

Having a heavy-weight company pushing for the same things Internet promoters dream of, is a great thing. Microsoft's proprietary route doesn't hold a candle. It may get the masses for a time, but things like GMail, Google Maps, and just plain Google.com have gone along way to bring the public out of the overhipped, "bloat-ware" technology of Microsoft and the like.

Just thoughts. :)