Bing Streetside is now available in the UK, mainly around London as you can see from the map above. Google Street View already cover almost every single street in the UK. Bing Maps is apparently more focused on some of the largest roads and tourist attractions. Manchester and Merseyside area will be covered with the next update.
Since 2009 Bing Streetside has been available in the US. This is the first time Streetside is available outside the US. Bing is also taking images in Germany and France at the moment. When those images will be going live is not clear, but it is expected later this year.
The blue man standing in a circle is Bing Maps version of the orange Google Pegman. You can move it around on the map to see the Streetside image.
First impression is not too good. Take this panorama image for instance: