Microsoft Streets & Trips 2008 tracks traffic, gas prices

In advance of Labor Day weekend and its inevitable coast-to-coast traffic jams, Microsoft is releasing Streets & Trips 2008 software. Among the new features in the deluxe edition are live traffic updates, information on nearby gas prices, and estimates of what filling up along the journey will cost for that Hummer, Prius, or whatever else you're driving. It also hooks up to Live Search maps that you can mark up, and which chart businesses including hotels, snack spots and camping areas.

Despite such helpful features, this product seems like an odd fit in the market when you can get a GPS unit for the windshield or the palm of your hand for a few hundred dollars, if not already built into a vehicle. The standard edition of Microsoft's software is a mere $39, but that doesn't include the $99 GPS or the $179 Connected Services for updates about traffic and gasoline costs.

Who wants to drive with a laptop keeping awkward company in the seat next to you? You may have to buckle the passenger seatbelt to stop the car's safety warning beeps, as I did on a drive to Napa from San Francisco in a rented Nissan last weekend. (But due to a fading laptop battery, alas, I barely got to test Streets & Trips 2008.) The Connected Services fob that plugs into your laptop is a bit thicker yet shorter than a folded-up Motorola Razr phone--bigger than last year's tiny nugget, which it houses.

That said, the interface looks simple enough, with arrows pointing out the route and a view that resembles the angle from your dashboard. If you can't see the screen, Streets & Trips will shout out turn-by-turn directions, including what to do to fix a wrong turn. Despite my misgivings, Microsoft says that sales of Streets & Trips rose by about 10 percent last year. It seems ideal for business travelers whose companies would rather plunk down on the software than for a dedicated GPS gadget, or for those who don't want to learn to work a new device. A human passenger who doesn't mind holding a computer in their lap would be a nice add-on.

[ss_Whiplash]

Make it compatible

The cool thing about Streets and Trips is it's planning tools. It also looks better than any other mapping package I've played with. The real shortcoming, for me anyway, is that it doesn't work with my Garmin Zumo 550. So I still have to use the crappy looking Garmin software to transfer routes to my unit. I would love it if MS made this work with other GPS units.

[felixderkater]

Oy

To you, as a consumer, that might make sense, but to Microsoft, it makes none at all. They can add $80 to the software asking price and include their own receiver. You must remember this is Microsoft we are dealing with.

[rcurry71]

There is so much more than what was written

For those professionals that travel a lot, already have their laptop for other reasons, and need to determine the quickest route to get to 20 locations that day, IT IS AWESOME. I have never owned or operated a small dashmount GPS unit, but I doubt that you can take enter several locations quikly into it. I can import my Outlook contacts into it in about 5 seconds. I then tell it to find me the quickest route for my 20+ stops, while at the same time considering that I need to be somewhere precisely at noon for a lunch meeting. Can a dashmount unit do that?

What it comes down to is your needs/habits. I have a laptop mount in my vehicle and an inverter to keep it powered. Im not a truck driver but they love this product!

Perhaps you can write a new balanced article that exposes all of the advantages of MS S&T and perhaps discuss how people have been using it.

Thanks!

[MyPointExactly]

Echoing rcurry71. It seems negative reviews on Microsoft Streets and Trips are always slanted toward a GPS device comparison. Yet for business planning and execution, there is no better mapping software or dedicated GPS device out there.

Sales people who cover a territory, can import thousands of prospects, assign them unique pushpins that identify their 'sales value' , search for best prospects and plan sales calls that group them together. They then plug in a GPS receiver and the laptop they have to carry with them anyway guides them with GPS turn by turn spoken directions. They keep their eyes on the road, instead of having to glance down to read hand written directions - or a printout map.

Streets and Trips helps reduce the cost of sales by ensuring reps know about all the opportunities in the area - and because they have great planning tools that let sales reps ask questions like "show me how many prospects are within ?X? driving minutes of my current location" and more - they can travel more efficiently and see more prospects in the same trip - saving gas and maybe even a return airfare. Reps spend more time in front of the prospect selling instead of behind the windshield driving. www.mypointsales.com

[MyPointExactly]

Echoing rcurry71. It seems negative reviews on Microsoft Streets and Trips are always slanted toward a GPS device comparison. Yet for business planning and execution, there is no better mapping software or dedicated GPS device out there.

Sales people who cover a territory, can import thousands of prospects, assign them unique pushpins that identify their 'sales value' , search for best prospects and plan sales calls that group them together. They then plug in a GPS receiver and the laptop they have to carry with them anyway guides them with GPS turn by turn spoken directions. They keep their eyes on the road, instead of having to glance down to read hand written directions - or a printout map.

Streets and Trips helps reduce the cost of sales by ensuring reps know about all the opportunities in the area - and because they have great planning tools that let sales reps ask questions like "show me how many prospects are within ?X? driving minutes of my current location" and more - they can travel more efficiently and see more prospects in the same trip - saving gas and maybe even a return airfare. Reps spend more time in front of the prospect selling instead of behind the windshield driving. www.mypointsales.com

[VICPERDIDO]

DOWNSIDE ABOUT MICROSOFT STREETS AND TRIPS!!!!!!!!!. I have been using MS Sts n Trps since 2001, and have purchased the upgrades anually. If you are comtemplating purchasing this product they also have something else new for this year.........If you have more that 2 computers that you want to install this product on, go ahead and BUY TWO MIC ST,S N TRIPS while your at the store because you get a key that is only good to install this product on 2 computers. And look as you may you wont find that "NEW" feature in red bold letters on the box when you purchase it. It is conveniently hidden in the License terms when you install it that nobody takes 3 hours to read, especially when they are anxious to get the new version installed. THANKS MICROSOFT FOR THIS "NEW" FEATURE THAT YOU HID SO WELL. Maybe we will get to read about a class action law suit soon for false advertisement, I certainly hope so, because it is. And I would love to get on that band wagon.