"I wonder how happy the martians will be when Google lands a couple of black Opels with monstrous cameras on the top???"

They had better not walk in front of them to try and greet them, especially if the Martians have four legs...

Okay, it's pretty crude (but what Gware isn't in its first iteration?) but last night I spent three hours piloting an F-16 over Olympus Mons and buzzing the Mars Exploration Rovers before doing a perfect takeoff at McCarran Airport, a few loop-the-loops over the Las Vegas Strip and a low-level strafing run over the Hoover Dam before flying up-country to make a few passes over San Francisco and perform a re-enactment of the final scenes of The Rock (including a reasonably illegal fly-under of the Golden Gate Bridge), then capped it all with a blast from Heathrow, a quick spin over London and a crash-landing in my own front garden. Maybe all those guys sacked from MS Flight Simulator can find a new home?

All the new stuff is hugely impressive, and subjectively the whole app feels a good deal snappier on my Mac.

The downside, however, is the persistent Google Update application that insists on installing and running before you can install Earth, and apparently manages all other Google Apps the same way, although deleting it from my Login Items doesn't seem to have caused any ructions.

...caught by a Opel-based spycam taking a wee.

So now we have interplanetary IP protocols *and* Google Mars, and a successful first test of hardware for Constellation (Ares/Orion). Also I finished my Airfix Space Shuttle :-) :-)

Welcome to the 21st Century, I'm loving it.

after upgrading to google earth 5, it would appear the isles of Scilly are beneath the sea, lol

Phobos & Deimos?

Venus? (Although you wouldn't want to settle there - a surface pressure of 92atm, temperature of 460°C, 95% CO2 atmosphere and sulphur dioxide clouds)

Mercury?

I can now find that plot of land on Mars that I brought for £100...

"Phobos & Deimos?...Venus?...Mercury?"

In time, probably. Followed by a complete universe flythrough capability (piloting the craft of your choice), using more NASA, etc. data, along with depiction of star positions, etc. in the sky from any spot in the universe.