So Microsoft has released a new AJAX toy, currently on preview.local.live.com.

It’s not particularly new, though. In one pane it’s like Google Maps, overlaid with a car image, in the other pane it’s like Amazons local search. I wonder if they actually licensed Amazons imagery for it.

I’m impressed: it works with firefox. But it’s rather slow (seems like they are not doing view image preloading, like with the map).

The final version will probably be called Microsoft GTA: Reality, and if they manage to add gore after you’ve driven over pedestrians (who is this guy, anyway? Did he give the permission to be included in this toy? is there no privacy in the US?) when going down one-way-streets the wrong way, it can probably even become a big seller.

More likely they’ll give it away for free, not making any money with it.