"The opening screen of T’Rain was a frank rip-off of what you saw when you booted up Google Earth. Richard felt no guilt about this, since he had heard that Google Earth, in turn, was based on an idea from some old science-fiction novel."
I haven't read Reamde. What was the opening sequence? The zoom In Effect when you pick a local address?
Many people don't realize that Neal Stephenson is referring to his own novel, Snow Crash
"Snow Crash" is awesome at so many levels - including inventing what is now Google Earth. I've read it once and listened to the audio book twice. And will again.