[HN Gopher] Microsoft Autoroute Express (1995)
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       Microsoft Autoroute Express (1995)
        
       Author : remoquete
       Score  : 19 points
       Date   : 2024-02-06 07:58 UTC (1 days ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.win3x.org)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.win3x.org)
        
       | NikkiA wrote:
       | Used to use Autoroute being driven by an OG garmin gps 12 for
       | navigation and I think there was an option to display live
       | traffic density, that I used via a startac holding a 14.4
       | connection to AOL (why AOL? because they had an 800 number POP
       | that didn't cost an arm and a leg over cell), all running on a
       | NEC P133 laptop.
       | 
       | Microsoft "Streets and Trips" had better maps though, but didn't
       | support GPS tracking, as I remember it. By the end of the 90s MS
       | had a handful of different mapping products, that all competed
       | with each other in some weird way, some were under the Encarta
       | branding, some under the Expedia branding, some just Microsoft
       | and some Autoroute.
       | 
       | This was a year or two after the 'original' release in the title
       | though (Autoroute was a separate company for the first half of
       | the 90s until MS bought them and rebadged their product).
        
         | genocidicbunny wrote:
         | > Microsoft "Streets and Trips"
         | 
         | ...is a trip down memory lane. I remember printing out the
         | directions, plotting the key turns on the paper maps from AAA,
         | having to have a little folder of printed papers while going on
         | a long trip; Trying to figure out how the heck to get back to
         | the route when you made a wrong turn, or trying to reroute
         | around a long-closed street that the directions said you should
         | take. Or having to search for hotels or restaurants where the
         | whole family could stay/eat along the way, and having to do all
         | of this ahead of time because there's no way you're getting
         | internet access once you actually head out.
         | 
         | Puts into perspective how much modern mapping/navigation apps
         | have changed things.
        
         | mikestew wrote:
         | _Microsoft "Streets and Trips"...didn't support GPS tracking,
         | as I remember it._
         | 
         | It did, actually. You could even buy a version that had an
         | included GPS unit that supported a USB connection to your
         | laptop, or (IIRC) Bluetooth.
        
       | rhplus wrote:
       | Direct download of an exe with no checksums or signatures from a
       | non-HTTPS phpBB bulletin board? How many more red-flags can we
       | add?
        
         | mips_r4300i wrote:
         | Is there even any virus in the wild that could infect a 16-bit
         | executable anymore?
        
           | acheron wrote:
           | Gotta watch out for the Michelangelo virus.
        
         | wannacboatmovie wrote:
         | The site clearly states it's explicitly designed to be accessed
         | with ancient browsers on Win 3.1.
         | 
         | Translation: it's not for you.
         | 
         | So please knock it off with the phony alarmist infosec
         | nonsense.
        
           | ForOldHack wrote:
           | He raised the alarm, but... I scanned it with VirusTotal.
           | Nothing. Should I post the CRC so you guys can verify that
           | its the very same binary?
        
       | liotier wrote:
       | I remember being pissed off when I found that NextBase had sold
       | my beloved AutoRoute Express to Microsoft !
        
       | scrumper wrote:
       | The DOS version was one of the first graphical things I ever saw.
       | My dad pretty much lived on the road in England and one day he
       | came home with this installed on his portable (not really a
       | laptop). Everyone remembers their first experience with Google
       | Maps when it came out; I had similar feelings with this as a kid.
       | It took ages to calculate a route, but it was incredibly cool. On
       | a black and white, slow-refresh LCD screen, the map background
       | was black and the routes in various shades of light grey. As a
       | Cold War kid it felt like I was some sort of spymaster or nuclear
       | forces general using secret technology to plan my campaigns.
        
       | jjkaczor wrote:
       | Heh... I preferred MapPoint, as it exposed a COM object interface
       | and was controllable from other applications (like NetStumbler
       | and VBScript) ...
        
       | tempaway45751g wrote:
       | This reminds me of a Jeff Atwood blog post from 2007 where he
       | talks about discovering that Google Maps (2 years old at that
       | point) was quicker to use than locally run Microsoft Streets and
       | Trips
       | 
       | https://blog.codinghorror.com/who-killed-the-desktop-applica...
       | 
       | contains this mind bending sentence:
       | 
       |  _Combined with a USB GPS receiver and a laptop, Streets and
       | Trips is a fine navigational aid on trips. Well, assuming you
       | were going to take the laptop on your trip anyway, which I always
       | do._
       | 
       | The world has changed so much since 2007
        
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       (page generated 2024-02-07 23:01 UTC)