Desktop.com

Desktop.com
Industry Application service provider
Fate Shut down [1]
Founded December, 1998[2]
Defunct 2001[1]
Headquarters San Francisco, California
Key people
Katie Burke Mitic, Larry Drebes, and Karen Drebes; Founders

Desktop.com was an Application Service Provider founded by Katie Burke Mitic, Larry Drebes, and Karen Drebes. They created a Web application compatible with the Internet Explorer 4 browser (and announced compatibility with Netscape Navigator 4) that effectively simulates a user's desktop over the World Wide Web, so that it is accessible from anywhere.

A full window management and application launching system existed, controlled by JavaScript code. Much of this code was downloaded during the login process, which made the first access very long (e.g. a few minutes) but the resulting user experience was like that one of desktop applications and not what would have been expected from traditional web applications.

Desktop.com may be characterized as a predecessor to the later concepts of Ajax, rich Internet applications, web desktop, etc.

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 Shayesteh, Abdi. "Start-Ups that Flopped in 2001; What Twenty-Four Financially Distressed Start-Ups Did to Attempt to Save Their Company". Retrieved 2007-10-07.
  2. Festa, Paul (1999-06-30). "Desktop.com joining Web-based applications market". Retrieved 2007-10-07.