[aprssig] Re: WARNING If you are using Streets&Trips 2006 or

[KC2MMi]

Couple of more notes: I also haven't worked with the shipping US software so
can't tell what is in it, but I do know that the post refers to the EUROPEAN
version and MS openly has stated that they experiment on the smaller overseas
distributions of products before making changes in the US version. There is no
reason to think a feature in the EU, Japan, or other MS "geopgraphies" is or
will be in the US version.

The "Location Finder" product is documented at microsoft.com, is available for
free download, and MS openly states the purpose. Since the product is FREE, it
would not be surprising to find MS was considering selling or using pop-ups or
other advertising to support it. They do say right up front that they designed
it so a user with any internet connection could "find a local chinese
restaurant" and that tells me that MS, just like DeLorme, might be selling
"listings" to businesses so users could find them. Or, vice-versa.

But more likely, it sounds like someone was offered a prompt to install the
option, took it without looking, and then went all furious about spyware--not
knowing they had chosen to install it. A typical spyware installation pattern,
where the user clicks away with no idea of what they are taking.

OTOH, MS is getting some of their mapping from NavTeq (as Google is) and NavTeq
is using some of the obsoleted TIGER data, or making similar errors in their
lat/lon mapping. Caveat emptor folks. The geocoding (display of street
addresses) comes from a separate database, so a street address may be shown
correctly--but an APRS lat/lon position may be seriously off. Regardless of the
APRS formats and datums we're using.<G>