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Google Earth Pro is now free

google-latlong.blogspot.com

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Re: Google Earth Pro is now free

#12

Post by superdude »

Years ago before I started at my current job some people had Google Earth (free) on their PCs. But then someone read an updated Terms of Use and determined that we actually needed to be using the paid version of Google Earth so many people had their copies removed from their PCs. Then around the time I started someone read an updated Terms of Use and it was determined that there was no problem using the regular version of Google Earth. So it became part of the standard build. Then about a year ago someone read another updated Terms of Use and determined that we were out of compliance and so we removed all copies of Google Earth from all computers. And then we purchased licenses for Google Earth Pro for only those users who really relied on it. For a yearly per-user fee. And now apparently we can install it for everyone once again. For free.

I wonder if Google realized that a lot of companies and government organizations were confused about licensing or ignorantly non-compliant or just gave up and tried some other program. I know in my department we already installed alternative software for most people. Although nothing is as nice or easy for exploring or creating KML files as Google Earth in my experience.

Re: Google Earth Pro is now free

#14

Post by tga_d »

Linux support is pretty ambiguous. The download link says "Download Google Earth Pro for PC or Mac," the minimum specifications link gives specifications for Linux, the actual download gives you a binary called GoogleEarthLinux.bin, but when installed gives you an outdated (3 years) and non-pro copy of google earth.

Re: Google Earth Pro is now free

#16

Post by ianlevesque »

tga_d wrote: post #14

Linux support is pretty ambiguous. The download link says "Download Google Earth Pro for PC or Mac," the minimum specifications link gives specifications for Linux, the actual download gives you a binary called GoogleEarthLinux.bin, but when installed gives you an outdated (3 years) and non-pro copy of google earth.

Which, if I recall correctly, is wine based too. What a mess.

Re: Google Earth Pro is now free

#17

Post by johnpowell »

flomo wrote: post #6
neindanke wrote: post #5

Registration is failing for me at the moment.

Registration failed for me with a message suggesting such remedies as trying a different email address. Punched in a gmail address and it worked. Perhaps coincidentally.

Same with me. It failed with that error when I tried with my fastmail email address. Switched to a gmail one and then it worked.

Re: Google Earth Pro is now free

#19

Post by threeseed »

mden wrote: post #3

This sounds really awesome, but does anyone have an explanation as to why they are doing it? Building something like Google Earth Pro must take many millions of dollars, so why would a company release it for free?

If you don't pay for something you can't expect support or updates.

So could be that Google is simply moving that team onto more strategically useful projects. Personally I can't see why they kept supporting this as it isn't core business.

Re: Google Earth Pro is now free

#20

Post by ghshephard »

ghshephard wrote: post #11
neindanke wrote: post #5

Registration is failing for me at the moment.

I registered, but got the following when I tried to download: http://dl.google.com/earth/client/advanced/current/GoogleEar... Access to this site is currently restricted

Waited a bit, got the email, tried again - Everything worked! I've wanted GooglePro forever - and now I have it - to the point of almost ponying up the $400 of my hard earned money for it.

A really nice post-christmas present from Google.

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