WTF? MS releases app for iPhone

[Norse]

Want to see giga-pixel images on your iPhone? Now you can--with Seadragon Mobile.

Seadragon Mobile brings the same smooth image browsing you get on the PC to the mobile platform. Get super-close in on a map or photo, with just a few pinches or taps of your finger. Browse an entire collection of photos from a single screen. You can browse Deep Zoom Images that you can create from your own pictures or your Photosynth collection (or anybody else's).

Seadragon Mobile is available for free at the iTunes App Store.

Source: Engadget (http://www.engadget.com)/LiveLabs (http://livelabs.com/blog/seadragon-goes-mobile/)

I really don't see why MS would do this. What can they gain by releasing stuff like this on the iPhone? Isn't that like releasing software for the PS3?

[Codicier]

Well they are a software developer and the iPhone is a very lucrative market for apps. Why wouldn't they capitalize on that?

[Sl1pstream]

Why wouldn't they capitalize on that?

Well, it's a free app. There's only 9 lines of text in the OP.

[PathMaster]

Proof of concept perhaps?

[Codicier]

Well, it's a free app. There's only 9 lines of text in the OP.

At the very least I doubt 1 MS app on the iPhone is going to move any customers to or from either platform so it's not a big deal I would think. While they're competitors in certain markets I don't think that forbids any sort of contact between their various products.

Maybe its a marketing thing: "You can buy an iPhone, but you'll never escape us!" :p

[Alkanos]

I don't really see the problem. Just Microsoft boosting the name recognition of Seadragon, with what was probably a few hours worth of coding. Sure, it's on an Apple platform, but so's Office:mac (http://www.microsoft.com/mac/products/Office2008/default.mspx). Maybe if MS had a completing platform (and the oPhone doesn't count... :p) it would be a little odd.

[MagGnome]

The same reason they put Office and IE on Mac?

Although I hope there aren't any Apple users out there who browse the web with IE. :p

[spcialk]

Source: Engadget (http://www.engadget.com)/LiveLabs (http://livelabs.com/blog/seadragon-goes-mobile/)

I really don't see why MS would do this. What can they gain by releasing stuff like this on the iPhone? Isn't that like releasing software for the PS3?

So, I work for the group that put this out. I helped design, write copy for and test this application. Which means, I can explain exactly why we did this.

First, why NOT do it? iPhone is not only the coolest phone out there it is also one of the most powerful. There aren't any Win Mobile phones that have graphics acceleration, we looked and there just aren't any phones that could run our stuff.

Additionally, there is no reason to not put something out merely because it might conflict with another thing that MS is doing. There is so much going on that we just wouldn't be able to get anything done. When we did Seadragon Ajax, we got asked why we would do anything that wasn't Silverlight Deep Zoom.

Finally, it's cool. Seadragon's stuff is cool and who appreciates cool more than iPhone users? We aren't stopping here of course, we'll have Seadragon goodness all over the place in short order. :-)

Ping me if you have any more questions

[Bingley Joe]

So, I work for the group that put this out. I helped design, write copy for and test this application. Which means, I can explain exactly why we did this.

First, why NOT do it? iPhone is not only the coolest phone out there it is also one of the most powerful. There aren't any Win Mobile phones that have graphics acceleration, we looked and there just aren't any phones that could run our stuff.

Additionally, there is no reason to not put something out merely because it might conflict with another thing that MS is doing. There is so much going on that we just wouldn't be able to get anything done. When we did Seadragon Ajax, we got asked why we would do anything that wasn't Silverlight Deep Zoom.

Finally, it's cool. Seadragon's stuff is cool and who appreciates cool more than iPhone users? We aren't stopping here of course, we'll have Seadragon goodness all over the place in short order. :-)

Ping me if you have any more questions

Awesome! Thanks for taking the time to explain :)

Not that I was confused by this, mind you -- MS has been developing software for the Mac for as long as I can remember (long before the OSX days, anyway), and I imagine sales of their Office apps are quite healthy on the platform.

Hell, I just recently bought yet another copy of XP Pro to install on yet another Mac of mine, and I know I'm not the only one, so I hardly see how developing a nifty little freebee to pimp some amazingly cool technology of theirs is a bad thing.

[Tron]

The same reason they put Office and IE on Mac?

Are those apps free? ;)