Mentioned in passing during coverage of the Linux release of Google’s Picasa photo software is the news that a Linux port of Google Earth has been in the works. From the Linux Today article:

[Google Open Source Program Manager Chris] DiBona indicated that Google made a public committment to begin porting two applications to Linux about a year ago. The other application in this project is Google Earth. Picasa for Linux was announced first simply because it was finished first.

When asked if the additions to WINE would bootstrap Google Earth’s porting progress, DiBona answered in the negative, explaining that Google Earth relied on Qt and GL libraries and code, so additional WINE support would not help. No timeline for that application’s release was revealed at this time.

Via Google Earth Blog.