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XENOPHILE Some of v4.3's new features are nice, but on my dual 1.42 GHz G4, the performance boost is the most welcome improvement. Navigating in the 3D viewer is now fluid and instantaneous, and the overall experience is far more enjoyable. Unfortunately, GE still has a ways to go. A few low points: 1. The following note appears far too often in Google Earth's manual: "Currently, this feature is not supported for Mac versions of Google Earth." Apple's market share is growing in leaps and bounds, so there is no excuse for a major company like Google to cripple the Mac version. What's most insulting is that Google keeps the Linux version up to speed with the Windows version. WTF? 2. Stability. v4.1 was rock solid on my system, so Google will hopefully address the bugs in v4.3 momentarily. 3. Lame integration with Google Maps. Google Earth is just screaming out for a feature that would turn off the satellite view for a simple road map view. It's almost there, and 3rd party solutions are available, but if Google implements such a feature it will undoubtedly be cleaner and faster. Despite it's flaws, Google Earth is of course a must-have application. What we really need are more competitors to force Google to quicken the pace of development. (Version 4.3.7191.6508 ) |