PhotoSynth released as a Worldwide “Software + Services” Download, to become part of MSN

re: PhotoSynth released as a Worldwide “Software + Services” Download, to become part of MSN

joeale — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 19:03:06 GMT

How will this used msn and can it bee used on windows live spaces.

re: PhotoSynth released as a Worldwide “Software + Services” Download, to become part of MSN

Kip Kniskern — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 01:43:26 GMT

@jntowers - certainly there's a cool factor, also creating 360degree views required special equipment that can now be done with a simple camera. For practical use, we'll have to see how MSN puts it to use, but especially with "crowdsourcing" there could be some very cool use cases.

And btw did check on VE/MSN. "In terms of VE/MSN, they are both part of the same organization." - that from an MS spokesperson.

re: PhotoSynth released as a Worldwide “Software + Services” Download, to become part of MSN

jntowers — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 21:15:35 GMT

I'm not trying to be a cynic, but is there any practical use to Photosynth? If you have to go to the effort to take pictures in an appropriate manner for it to work correctly anyway, I don't see how it's much different than just creating a slideshow with a fade effect. That, to me, seems to be what a majority of these look like so far anyway. I mean, it's a cool tool, especially when you get the high "synthy" percentages - but I don't really see a practical use. But hey, I tend to be shortsighted, so please educate me!

re: PhotoSynth released as a Worldwide “Software + Services” Download, to become part of MSN

quikboy — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 16:30:36 GMT

Hey, they took down the Deepfish browser page. I saw this blog entry and it said they gave up:

livelabs.com/.../deepfish-hello-i-must-be-going

That really sucks. Microsoft really needs to start rethinking the idea of a mobile browser. As well as doing a whole redo on WinMo and pushing the hardware makers to do a consistent form factor to work on.

re: PhotoSynth released as a Worldwide “Software + Services” Download, to become part of MSN

Kip Kniskern — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 14:17:15 GMT

PhotoSynth is part of the Virtual Earth team, as was reported here on LiveSide. According to the PhotoSynth press release tonight "Following this release, the Photosynth team will join MSN — an important step in continuing to improve Photosynth and share the experience with an even wider audience. " So "joining" MSN may be more of a marketing phrase than a re-org - we'll try to get confirmation.

re: PhotoSynth released as a Worldwide “Software + Services” Download, to become part of MSN

Chris — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 13:57:59 GMT

Albert1690: yes that is an interesting choice. However given there is no MSN anywhere near the name, it seems to be more of a strategic "where do we place this final product within the org?". If they'd called it MSN Photosynth then that would be annoying!

re: PhotoSynth released as a Worldwide “Software + Services” Download, to become part of MSN

Alber1690 — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 13:45:52 GMT

It's very interesting how the picked MSN as the marketing brand, considering all the picture-related stuff they're doing on the Windows Live front.

re: PhotoSynth released as a Worldwide “Software + Services” Download, to become part of MSN

quikboy — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 13:45:38 GMT

All right! It's fantastic! I've been using it for a bit, and it's absolutely awesome. I can't wait for the crowd-sourcing bit to come.

I don't like the new controls however. I'll kinda miss the camera angle display thingy, and the 3D fly-around was pretty fun. I also miss the old grid view that showed the select photo right in the center, with similar photos around the edges of it.

It's great to see them finally finish though, and now a lot of people can use it. I'll try to get as many pictures as my high school I can, before I make a synth. Can't wait to check out all the news ones.