hey... a followup...

hi. whoever had posted about the worldwide telscope proj... i followed it up upon my arrival here, internally at office.it turns out that this project will be far far better n bigger than the existing google sky. the people at microsoft hav tied up with the hubble's ground based observatory which owns all the original hubble imagery to provide the same (note:google sky had done that too...) but the actual place where the difference with existing s/w like sky (google sky) is made in the amazing visualizations... the fundamentally different nature of the code (it is based on a space-based env, rather than an earth based env such as google sky which was developed from google earth n not built from scratch)... leads to an altogether different approach in rendering... thus allowing 4 smooth flawless rendering of all the celestial bodies...(includin the earth!)

also, the fact that a company like ms (which actually has proper exposure to graphics at a lower level) than google (which generally operates on graphics ata much higher level of abstraction) is workin on it adds a totally new dimension to this solution to the s/w encoding n rendering of the sky...

this is most visible in the use of ms's Visual Experience Engine to drive the rendering.... this most amazing piece of code is what makes all the cool graphics possible...it is a direct derivative of the segments of code that allow 4 all those gr8 new graphics in ur new Vista os.

considerin how gr8 this software is already in it's current stage, i was left amazed n wonderin why ms continues to provide the same 4 free...

the reasons became quite clear moments later when i realized the idea is to allow ppl to experience the feel of wwt... as once they hav experienced wwt they'll never be able to go back. sooner or later this is bound to become copyrighted sold s/w...
(the proj vision is too expensive to sustain otherwise... i'm sure of that..)

...so much 4 astronomical evangelism!!!
but then again, it's an amazing product.... the only downside bein it requires a lot of memory n quite some hdd space... but thik hai, i guess they decided to make the best product 4 the most dedicated astronomer when they set out... high expectations na?...i guess they jus wanted to design the best, n not set ny limitations on themselves...
nyways, if u still hav nydoubt abt the s/w read this article : http://scobleizer.com/2008/02/27/what-made-me-cry-microsofts-world-wide-telescope/

here's wishing u dirty skies... lol... n obviously, a clear computer screen . ;)

dev . (/ Surjodeb Basu )

here's a pic (/screenshot) :