Microsoft kills Deepfish mobile browser project

Filed under: Internet, Windows Mobile, Microsoft, Mobile Minute, Browsers

Microsoft kills Deepfish mobile browser project

by Brad Linder Oct 2nd 2008

A year and a half after introducing an innovative web browser for Windows Mobile, Microsoft is killing the project. Back before there was an Opera Mini 4 or an iPhone version of Safari, the Deepfish web browser offered a way to display full desktop views of web pages on a tiny browser, allowing you to zoom in on the area you want to read.

The browser was developed by the Microsfot Live Labs team and was never released to the general public. But I wouldn't be surprised if some Deepfish code has found its way into the upcoming Internet Explorer Mobile 6.

In a blog post, the developers behind Deepfish say the goal was never to build a complete browser, but rather to show that an innovative user interface could make for better mobile browsing. The team also implies that Deepfish helped inspire the development of full desktop views in other browsers like Safari, Opera Mini, and Opera Mobile.

You can check out a video shot early last year of Deepfish in action after the jump.

[via jkOnTheRun and My Today Screen]

Tags: deepfish, mobile-browser, opera-mini, opera-mobile, safari

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

alra said 11:52PM on 10-02-2008

What do you mean "before Opera Mini" Deepfish was introduced long time after Opera Mini. Deepfish was released in March 2007 while Opera Mini was released worldwide January 2006.

Brad Linder said 11:54PM on 10-02-2008

Sorry, that should have read, "before Opera Mini 4," which is to say, the first version of Opera Mini to support a full desktop view/zooming interface.

Glen said 9:02AM on 10-03-2008

Actually, for those in the know, Deepdish beta invites were sent out in early 2006.

It also makes perfect sense to close Deepdish, considering what MS have achieved with the new IE for WM.

Quikboy said 9:56AM on 10-03-2008

Yep, Deepfish has been scrapped for at least a few months already. The zooming functionality for PIE in WinMo 6.1 seems to make up for it though, which I guess came from Deepfish.

I'm annoyed that Microsoft is basing the next IE for mobile on IE6. I'm sure if they took their time and worked real hard on it, they could bring it up to snuff to IE8. More features, better site rendering are crucial for a mobile browser. I don't think IE6 cut the butter on that, especially of a mobile version.

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