Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Chris T
How are they authenticating new users without requiring any kind of sign-up? Is the app somehow enabled by Google the first time it connects?
If so, you lot who can't get on are unlucky, my dad signed onto it this afternoon for the first time and it let him on alright. He had to download the installer from an alternative location mind,  as Gooooooogle have shut theirs down ... perhaps their switching off authentication is to prevent people flooding the service after acquiring the installer over BitTorrent or whatever. |
If you subscribe then obviously it has to know what service you are subscribed to, so I suppose it initially checks to see if you are subscribed to any paid service before it loads up any data or images.
Also I think the first time you run Google Earth it heads to the server to download certain data to enable the software to run (server locations, basic primary maps and images), if you don't have this basic data on your PC it can't then access any further information. The initial file size when you download Google Earth is about 10Mb but as soon as you access any point on the globe it immediately starts streaming image data to your PC..... lots of data lol
Oh and the $400 subscription is a commercial service and those figures are annual fees too.