[Jason Dunn]

http://livelabs.com/deepfish/

"When Live Labs began working on Deepfish, we didn't set out to create a new mobile browser. What we set out to do was to prove our theory that there was an unmet demand for a better mobile browsing experience than what was available at the time we started the project in 2006, and that a novel and simple new user experience was the best way to achieve that. The positive reception and incredible demand for the Deepfish technical preview went a long way towards proving that. And now, thanks in part to Deepfish, many better alternatives are emerging."

Microsoft Research projects are always a bit hard to figure out - Microsoft puts a huge amount of money into R&D, but I'm often left scratching my head when it comes to what they actually get out of it. This article has some insights, but Deepfish seems like a project that didn't seem to go anywhere. We originally posted about Deepfish back in March of 2007, and certainly by then there was many browser initiatives underway - not the least of which was the iPhone which would launch to much fanfare some three months later. So what did Deepfish give us? I'm not sure - it was a proxy-based solution, which in the long-haul doesn't really scale well to a large user-base. If you're RIM and you're selling a server solution it does, but fundamentally any server-based service needs a revenue model and I didn't see Deepfish providing a solution in that regard. Were any of you still actively using Deepfish? Will you be sad to see it go, or have you already moved on to other browser solutions?

[Jason Dunn]

http://livelabs.com/deepfish/

"When Live Labs began working on Deepfish, we didn't set out to create a new mobile browser. What we set out to do was to prove our theory that there was an unmet demand for a better mobile browsing experience than what was available at the time we started the project in 2006, and that a novel and simple new user experience was the best way to achieve that. The positive reception and incredible demand for the Deepfish technical preview went a long way towards proving that. And now, thanks in part to Deepfish, many better alternatives are emerging."

Microsoft Research projects are always a bit hard to figure out - Microsoft puts a huge amount of money into R&D, but I'm often left scratching my head when it comes to what they actually get out of it. This article has some insights, but Deepfish seems like a project that didn't seem to go anywhere. We originally posted about Deepfish back in March of 2007, and certainly by then there was many browser initiatives underway - not the least of which was the iPhone which would launch to much fanfare some three months later. So what did Deepfish give us? I'm not sure - it was a proxy-based solution, which in the long-haul doesn't really scale well to a large user-base. If you're RIM and you're selling a server solution it does, but fundamentally any server-based service needs a revenue model and I didn't see Deepfish providing a solution in that regard. Were any of you still actively using Deepfish? Will you be sad to see it go, or have you already moved on to other browser solutions?

[daS]

Originally Posted by Jason Dunn

And now, thanks in part to Deepfish, many better alternatives are emerging."

Long before Deepfish or the iPhone (I use the word "long" as it relates to Internet time) there was the Picsel Browser. Why Microsoft didn't just buy that company is completely beyond me!

[cab124]

Originally Posted by Jason Dunn

And now, thanks in part to Deepfish, many better alternatives are emerging."

...but not from Microsoft.

Apparently, Microsoft developed Deepfish to prove to their competition that there was a demand for a better mobile browsing experience.

I don't get it.

[Menneisyys]

Originally Posted by cab124

...but not from Microsoft.

Apparently, Microsoft developed Deepfish to prove to their competition that there was a demand for a better mobile browsing experience.

I don't get it.

Well, with DeepFish, it would have been impossible to prove that (Read: DeepFish was REALLY slow, much slower than any comparable full (!) client/server browser; most importantly, SkyFire.)

[Menneisyys]

Originally Posted by daS

Long before Deepfish or the iPhone (I use the word "long" as it relates to Internet time) there was the Picsel Browser. Why Microsoft didn't just buy that company is completely beyond me!

Let me disagree: IMHO, the Picsel browser is far from perfect. Almost non-existing JavaScript support (let alone Ajax); no support for multiple tabs; REALLY slow download times etc. Its only advantage is the finger control.

[Ed Hansberry]

I loved this quote:

Mobile browsing is now advancing to the point where mobile devices rival the desktop—which is what we wanted to see.

Has it really? I hadn't noticed on the my two WM 6.1 and one WM 6.0 device. Maybe those Deepfish guys are using an iPhone.

[alcedes78]

Originally Posted by cab124

...but not from Microsoft.

Apparently, Microsoft developed Deepfish to prove to their competition that there was a demand for a better mobile browsing experience.

Deepfish was developed in the Microsoft Research and Development group. The projects from this group are not necessarily representative of the initiatives of the company and in some cases may be a a student's project.

I wouldn't infer too much about what Microsoft as a company is trying to do based on what an individual or small group of people in the company decided to do.

[Jason Dunn]

Originally Posted by Ed Hansberry

Maybe those Deepfish guys are using an iPhone.

...snicker...

[daS]

Originally Posted by Menneisyys

Let me disagree: IMHO, the Picsel browser is far from perfect...

I don't disagree with you at all. But Picsel was more than a few years ahead of Deepfish. If Microsoft would have purchased the technology 5 or 6 years ago when I got my first demo, they could have expanded on it and been far ahead of the game. Instead, Picsel hasn't really improved much in the years since it was introduced, and nether has Pocket IE.

[TOCA]

When Deepfish was first descibed, it sounded like the biggest thing since sliced bread (like every thing else hooted by MS and Apple), and now it's just as much vapourware as most other great ideas we were told would be in WM5 and 6 (Direct upgrade/update downloads from MS? Any one got any so far?).

I have been using a multitude of addons to improve on my mobile surfing experience, and for the browser I'm using PIE+, and have been since it came out, I even used Net Front for a while because of its Aplet support, but I found that I never used it. PIE+ gives me the few extra functions that I need to surf efficiantly, at an affordable price.

Then there are all those little extra programs, which adds to the pleassure, with Youtube Player as one of the latest additions, I think I have about 20 programs installed which adds to my surfing pleassure, and some of them does a few other things as well, and that's fine with me.

Even if it would be a pleassure to see that 'one' program to rule them all. But hey, maybe one day it will be here.........WM7 maybe??