The current success that Apple is having will not have gone unnoticed in Redmond. Microsoft is, at the moment, fighting a rearguard action on several fronts. As part of its gradual march to releasing Longhorn, Microsoft has released the first beta of IE 7. According to reports, it looks (predictably) like Firefox. Clearly IE 7 will not change the world, but it may reduce the number of Firefox migrants. At the same time, the Mozilla Foundation has started a for-profit subsidiary to promote Firefox. It is a moot point as to whether Microsoft will be able to regain market share from Firefox when Longhorn kicks in.

So the news also broke last week that Longhorn will be known as Vista when it finally comes to market in the second half of 2006. And the marketing campaign is off and running. Vista is now available in beta so there are already comparisons on the web between it and Apple’s Tiger. They suggest that Microsoft has yet again borrowed from the Mac look and feel.

However Vistas’ search capability is ahead of Tiger as are a number of other features. Microsoft’s problem here is that the official release of Vista will probably turn into an Apple v Microsoft beauty contest, with Apple releasing its next version of OS X (Leopard) when Vista is officially released. Apple has a year in which to introduce features that will put Vista in the shade – if it cares to.

It’s unlikely that Microsoft will be able to do anything with Vista to win back the customers it is now losing to Apple and it now runs the risk of being upstaged on the official release.

Apple, by the way, has reinvented the mouse. Its new mouse may turn out to be no more than a curiosity. It has a 360-degree scroll wheel and four programmable buttons, allowing the user to scroll up, down, or diagonally. It is priced at $99 and may be popular among users of Abode Photoshop because it will improve the navigability of a photograph.

This mouse will not change the world. Indeed, the most remarkable thing about the mouse is the amount of publicity it has gathered for Apple. Which other company could launch a new mouse and get such broad coverage? It’s just a damn mouse.