Directions has been discussing MapPoint with people throughout the mapping industry.Most of the people who have reacted so far believe that Microsoft's entry will threaten some products but will expand the base of mapping customers.Here are some observations from the people involved:
Howard Slavin, president of Caliper Corporation, says that Microsoft's entry into mapping will be good news for Caliper and its desktop mapping product, Maptitude.
I am enjoying the Microsoft announcement.If Microsoft is successful in selling this, I think it will expand the market for people who want more than what MapPoint offers.
I think it will be good for Caliper.Most Caliper customers are using our software to do different things, meaning different things from what MapPoint can do.For example, Maptitude can manipulate large data sets and edit geography.
If they don't sell millions (of copies of MapPoint) will they give up?
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Caliper Corporation