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The most helpful favorable review
While the updated data base was the desire and achieved purpose of getting the latest version, it sufers from classic Microsoft update. Ease of use is severely impacted. My favorite means of navigation was to selct a region and tehn zoom in, you can't do that any more. Now you have to center and zoom, then re-center and zoom, not nearly as easy or effecient.
Also, as a program that needs to be "activated" it is no longer convienent to have on multiple computers. This substantially degrades the value of the product.
The most helpful critical review
I've used MS S&T since it was initially offered (pre-affordable GPS) and gradually watched it decline in usefulness as the net and technologies evolve. With this current version, even with the few improvements over the 2009 version, I wouldn't recommend it at all to a new user and only would recommend it as an upgrade if your version is more than 2 years old (unless you can find it for less than twenty bucks).
While netbooks (and to some extent the new generation of energy efficient processors just coming out this Xmas) have extended the life of this product, it is just not as functional while traveling as a good GPS unit. I still use it for planning, but more and more I find other online mapping tools more useful as wifi becomes more ubiquitous and 4G broadband adds coverage. The maps are not updated (I find major local errors still uncorrected after 4 years here in Ohio and on a trip to California, numerous serious flaws in Sacramento, the Napa Valley, and the Sonoma Valley - not to mention an abrupt loss of functionality along the way).
I like (and have) the GPS version while on the road at night (using the night map) and also use it while traveling to find side trips of interest (one thing not a strong point of auto GPS devices). But our Garmin GPS is much stronger for routing and seems to have a much better POI dataset. In fact, the online mapping services also have better POI info and MS S&T is unlikely to improve unless it is integrated with Bing or something.
Overall, licensing restrictions (1 machine - should be at least 2 including a laptop/netbook), lack of adequate data revision/updating, and the availability of cheaper GPS units and wifi, I'd say - give this one a pass unless you have a very compelling reason to use it.
Edit 7/12/2010 - Somehow I got the licensing wrong, actually S&T DOES allow 2 installs. My bad.
While netbooks (and to some extent the new generation of energy efficient processors just coming out this Xmas) have extended the life of this product, it is just not as functional while traveling as a good GPS unit. I still use it for planning, but more and more I find other online mapping tools more useful as wifi becomes more ubiquitous and 4G broadband adds coverage. The maps are not updated (I find major local errors still uncorrected after 4 years here in Ohio and on a trip to California, numerous serious flaws in Sacramento, the Napa Valley, and the Sonoma Valley - not to mention an abrupt loss of functionality along the way).
I like (and have) the GPS version while on the road at night (using the night map) and also use it while traveling to find side trips of interest (one thing not a strong point of auto GPS devices). But our Garmin GPS is much stronger for routing and seems to have a much better POI dataset. In fact, the online mapping services also have better POI info and MS S&T is unlikely to improve unless it is integrated with Bing or something.
Overall, licensing restrictions (1 machine - should be at least 2 including a laptop/netbook), lack of adequate data revision/updating, and the availability of cheaper GPS units and wifi, I'd say - give this one a pass unless you have a very compelling reason to use it.
Edit 7/12/2010 - Somehow I got the licensing wrong, actually S&T DOES allow 2 installs. My bad.
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