Breaking: Facebook Acquires Firefox Founders' Startup Parakey

 By 
Pete Cashmore
 on 
Breaking: Facebook Acquires Firefox Founders' Startup Parakey

[img src="" caption="" credit="" alt=""]

Facebook is announcing today that it has acquired Parakey, the startup created by Firefox co-founders Blake Ross and Joe Hewitt. Parakey is an open source web OS that bridges the gap between the desktop and the web - it was yet to launch. From a Spectrum article explaining the concept:

Parakey is intended to be a platform for tools that can manipulate just about anything on your hard drive—e-mail, photos, videos, recipes, calendars. In fact, it looks like a fairly ordinary Web site, which you can edit. You can go online, click through your files and view the contents, even tweak them. You can also check off the stuff you want the rest of the world to be able to see. Others can do so by visiting your Parakey site, just as they would surf anywhere else on the Web.

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg says that Firefox's platform strategy is similar to the Facebook Platform, meaning that they'll fit right in at Facebook. In fact, Zuckerberg considers the Platform to be a "social OS": perhaps it will now get the features of a real OS too.

The biggest stories of the day delivered to your inbox.
These newsletters may contain advertising, deals, or affiliate links. By clicking Subscribe, you confirm you are 16+ and agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
Thanks for signing up. See you at your inbox!