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1. Comment - Microsoft's 'Telescope' to compete with Google 'Sky'

   (May 20, 2008 - 5:19 AM)

   The joke of it all is that you cannot even go to the http://www.worldwidetelescope.org site with any browser other than MSIE 6.0 or better!
   
   Firefox 2 and 3 (Up to RC1) loads the preliminary Flash intro page up to 99% and then just sits there. M$ are basically locking all non-IE browsers out of the site.
   
   If you run Linux or Mac on your computer, forget it. It is Windows-only and even so, you need .NET 2.0 framework bloatware to run the software. I ran it on a virtual Windows machine and it behaved itself OK, but honestly I cannot see what all the fuss is about...
   
   Stellarium [http://www.stellarium.org] and Celestia [http://www.shatters.net/celestia/] do what WWT are doing - mostly, and these programs are far more accessible to non-Wintel machines.
   
   Close but no cigar M$! The line between innovation and just plain copying someone else's idea and adding some .NET eyecandy is pretty blurred at Redmond, WA it seems!