Bill Gates gets drilled by Walt Mossberg at D Billy G touches on all kinds of topics in his interview with Walt Mossberg at D. Everything from tablet pcs to the technology they're looking to release in the near future (or not so near in Longhorn's case, zing!). Apparently they're looking to compete with Google's mapping search software. Paraphrased from Billy G himself:

This is the summer release I'm showing you. But we're working on
new things. But we're working with partners like pictometry to
get images from planes that are taken at 45 degree angles. Much
better. You get angular views as well as top-down views.

That would be schweet. Would it be free and as easy to use as Google's is? Sure it will, since Microsoft is known for building awsome, unbreakable, easy to use products. Yeah...sure.  ¶ 10:57 AM