Windows Live Local - Virtual Earth Technology Preview

In 1994 lot of people thought VRML was cool, but it wasn't cool compared to offline video games and it wasn't useful compared to regular web-page search and browse.

This mockup of Microsoft's Local Live' reminds me of VRML. As a video game, it's crude by the standards of 1994 and as a web app it has none of the design sensibility of Google Maps.

The mockup is from a multi billion dollar company whose most obvious online avenue of attack against Google is local advertising - and the end result is a maps application that allows you to choose a view that superimposes crappy vignettes of the interior of a 'race car' or 'sports car', as you 'drive' around maps. The product substitutes kitsch and gimmickery for ergonomics and usefulness.