Claude Montpetit -- Montpetit.net -- en

Their much talked about new site, maps.google.com, which deserves all the hype it has generated, shows that they know what ease of use is all about.

I have used sites like mapquest.com many times. Their multi-fields form-based interface works, but has way too many required field: Address, city, state, must all be specified and validated, and by default, only US based maps are available. If you enter something that mapquest does not accept, they abruptly tell you that you are wrong.

With Google maps, just enter an address and a city in a single text field, and you get the map. If Google is not sure about what you want, it offers you a list of possibilities. Once you see the map you were looking for, a single click will switch to a satellite-image version of the map.

But on the other hand, this is built in JavaScript. Have you looked at the source code of gmail, or maps? This is JavaScript pushed to the limit. It is my belief that desktop applications have a second life these days, but looking at what Google does with JavaScript, what is next ?