Microsoft DeepZoom + PhotoZoom = Another Software+Service combination

Microsoft is continuing to roll out more Software+Service (S+S) combinations, the latest being the DeepZoom-PhotoZoom combination.

DeepZoom is a feature of Silverlight 2, Microsoft's next release of its Flash competitor which is due out this fall. DeepZoom "allows users to explore collections of super high resolution imagery, from a 2 or 3 megapixel shot from a digital camera to gigapixel scans of museum pieces, all without waiting for huge file downloads," as Microsoft explains on its Web site. DeepZoom is based on the SeaDragon technology that Microsoft acquired in 2006.

PhotoZoom, meanwhile, "is a web site where anyone can upload their photos and turn them into zoom-able, pan-able albums, using the Deep Zoom technology in Silverlight 2 Beta 1." (Microsoft released Beta 1 of Silverlight 2 to testers last week at Mix.) Microsoft did not talk about PhotoZoom at all at Mix -- at least not in any of the talks or sessions I attended; the LiveSide guys unearthed PhotoZoom last week.

Softie Matt Augustine cautioned that PhotoZoom is not an officially supported Microsoft service at this point. Augustine blogged:

"PhotoZoom is an experimental project developed by a small group of Microsoft developers, and it is definitely not an official, supported Microsoft product. Also, I cannot make any guarantees that it will be operational at all times, that it will support a large number of users, etc. This is not an official Microsoft press release and I am not a spokesperson. I can’t make any suggestions about future Microsoft product releases related to this technology or concept. In other words, I hope people will have fun with it, but please set your expectations accordingly."

Both DeepZoom and PhotoZoom are Microsoft Live Labs projects. (Live Labs is the mash-up of Microsoft researchers and Windows Live team members working on experimental technologies that Microsoft believes need to be fast-tracked into commercial products.)