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A good 2 decades ago Apple Computers unveiled the Apple Macintosh a personal computer that was a revolutionary innovation in terms of User Interface and Usability. Microsoft responded to it not by creating its own PC but just by developing (they actually got it from somewhere) an Operating System, Windows. What happened next is history and is taught in the CS curriculum around the world.

Fast forward 2 decades, Apple launches iPhone a phone that is atleast a decade ahead of its time when it comes to usability and interface design. Microsoft is targeting it once again, not with a phone of its own but once again a piece of software, DeepFish.

Deepfish is a mobile browser that preserves the layout of documents on the small screen and makes Web Navigation easier, enabling users to zoom in and out of a page, downloading only the pages users are interested in. The browser uploads a thumbnail of pages initially and keeps navigation menus, search results, news headlines etc in tact.

The question is “Can Microsoft do it yet again ?“. The answer is plain and simple NO, and here are the top 5 reasons why 2007 is not like 1984.

1. Microsoft Itself: Microsoft is no longer the underdog that no one knows about. After spending 2 decades in the industry every kid in town knows about the anti competitive, innovation grabber machine called Microsoft fair well.

2. IBM does not make mobile phones: IBM does not make mobile phones, on which the browser could be pre installed like the windows was done on IBM PC’s 2 decades ago. So In order for the browser to gain market share Microsoft will need to have partnerships with Nokia, Samsung and other mobile manufacturers. Keeping in view Microsoft´s reputation this ain’t gonna happen this time.

3. iPod: This reason might sound funny to some, but this time its Apple itself in the boots of IBM. Apple now enjoys the same status in the mobile portable music world which IBM enjoyed in the PC world. The tremendous success of iPod has build Apple´s brand and has made it a household name, far beyond the geek only world.

4. Blogosphere: Apple generated millions worth of PR without spending a dime on the launch of iPhone and not only this it single handedly eclipsed the entire electronics world gathered at CES for Tech Glitz and Buzz. This is made possible because of a new form of publishing called blogging, a place where Apple enjoy huge and loyal following.

Compare this to the billions Microsoft is spending on Vista marketing and PR and yet i don’t even know how many editions it has, or how is live mail and live messenger different from hotmail and msn messenger.

5. Open Source: As if all the above were not enough, we now have competition in the form of Open source Mozilla project, Minimo. Minimo boasts faster access, support for modern web standards like Javascript and AJAX, social bookmarking, tag browsing and RSS support (much of which Deepfish lacks).

It is “Enhanced Browsing for your Mobile Device” vs “Enhanced Mobile Device” scenario. So to me Deepfish is clearly in Deepshit!!!!