With all the din around Apple’s new laptops and Intel iMacs, no surprise Google’s release Google Earth for Mac did not get much play. With the exception of a miniscule program, GMail Status for Mac, this is indeed the first major Mac release from the company which wants to “organize” world’s information.
Gizmodo was wondering earlier that where in the heck was Google at the Macworld 2006 show? And what was it doing at some 3D modeling software company’s booth anyway? Maybe after spending millions on CES, wasn’t any moolah left over for the Macworld. Looks, as they say are deceiving. The company was in a side room, and was aggressively courting Mac developers. It even had printed collateral on display, which tells me two things: apparently, it has realized that by not supporting mac, it would miss out on the right 5% of the world’s information. (Okay Apple Fan Joke!)
On a more serious note, the company is building out its apple ranks, and that tells me it is working hard to bring more Apple ready products. A Google Talk client with voice features will be nice, even though the current GTalk can work through iChat in a IM mode only.
7 comments so far
8:56 AM PT
As they say, “Interesting. Verrrryy interesting.” If Google and Apple made a push for the home/individual users and Sun/RedHat made a push for the server market, it could spell some pressure on M$. Yes, we’ve all heard it before, but fighting a battle on two fronts is not one that any entity can handle for very long. I think that 2006 is the first year that M$ is obviously vulnerable.
2:38 PM PT
It is interesting to note that Google does not discriminate against Mac users when it comes to power supplies at the Googleplex. Last time I was there they had Mac power supplies in each conference room.
7:58 PM PT
I tried Google Earth for mac. It’s an amazing program, but the UI is kind of an embarrassment. Controls aren’t properly spaced out, their sidebar things don’t collapse properly, keyboard shortcuts don’t work, clicking things doesn’t work…
It’s a shame to see such a great program come in such ugly packaging.
in other words, they need to step up their Mac engineering recruitment efforts, stat!
9:33 PM PT
Have you guys seen the Google Video Store? It’s so ugly! I cant believe Google screwed up so much on the usability front. Only good thing is that the previews play without a hitch.
10:46 AM PT
Bob, the UI of the Windows version of Google Earth isn’t that great either. Nothing obviously broken, but still not very mediocre and circa 1999 looking.
2:46 AM PT
hhhh
2:47 AM PT
Jackson West writes for SFist. He writes about Web 2.0 and other topics for GigaOm.
Leave a Comment