For some years, Google and NORAD have teamed up to apply their tracking and web skills to the task of following Santa as he travels around the world.

Initially, this was brought to us via the wonders of Google Earth; a downloadable application that looked pretty impressive, full-screen on a big monitor, as Santa swooped from place to place, drawing ever-closer to insufficiently sleepy little people.

Gradually, Google's web tendencies began to exert themselves. First - usefully - we could see Santa on a Google Map, embedded in a web page. Then - as a teaser for what was to follow when we went full screen in *proper* Google Earth - Google offered a pokey little Google Earth widget, embedded into a web page. Sort of like watching a film on an iPhone instead of on a *proper* cinema screen.

And this year? Google appear to have withdrawn any way to see Santa in the proper, downloaded, Google Earth application. All we have is the Google Earth plug-in, embedded into the browser.

It's nice enough, I suppose, but Santa really can't SWOOP in a pokey little window.

Google has plenty of reasons to push web apps over downloaded applications, and many of them are ones I would (obviously) agree with. But please, please, please, can we have Santa back in the downloaded version of Google Earth, so that he can return to swooping across the glowing expanse of my cinema display?