Facebook Goes with the Big Names

When I saw the announcement today that Facebook had acquired Parakey, I wasn't all that surprised. Sure, the name was a surprise; Parakey has been in stealth mode for over a year now, with little known about them other than the fact that it's a company founded by two Firefox co-founders: Blake Ross and Joe Hewitt. There was a tiny bit of information leaked just to let us know who the players were, that it was a Web OS, and that they were looking for an intern who could turn into their first actual employee for this summer, but aside from that, it's been fairly hush-hush, especially when you consider how much buzz other Web OS companies like Xcerion, eyeOS, and YouOS have been getting.

Facebook, however, has been looking like a company heading for bigger and better things for a while now, from their lack of interest in a buy-out to some of the new things, like opening the platform for apps. Those aren't things that a company planning to stay a social network does.

The Parakey purchase gives us a tiny glimpse into what they might be thinking, and by banking on the big names rather than another company generating a bit more buzz, Facebook obviously has some big plans.

The acquisition was completed for an undisclosed sum, and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg gives no other details than the symbiosis between the two companies:
"Blake and Joe built the Firefox web browser and then turned to the developer community to build on top of the foundation they'd established, not unlike what we've done with Facebook Platform. The work they've done with Firefox and Parakey and their approach to building products fit right in at Facebook."

I'd love to see where Facebook plans on heading with this.