My grandmother used to tell me that regardless of what we do, we are often judged - fairly or unfairly - by the company we keep (she would also follow that advice with a stern, "so don't be a fool!"). Growing up, that advice didn't resonate all that much with me (no doubt due to youthful folly), but as I got older and realized that "life ain't always fair," I realized that her words were in fact more an unassailable truism than an aphorism.

Fast forward to today and, as the CEO of a small company with very big dreams and maybe even outsized amibtions, I can assure you that truer words were never spoken. By that I mean that when building a business, it is of the utmost importance to find trustworthy partners on whom you can rely and with whom you can grow to achieve your vision. Parterning with another - an outsider, essentially,whether an investor, a contractor or another company - should always result in a mutually beneficial relationship, but at the end of the day all partnerships are premised on a leap of faith, the wisdom of which will be determined over time.

We took such a leap a few months ago when we decided to partner with Sun Microsystems and, in so doing, switch our operating system from Linux to Solaris (Desktoptwo thus being deployed from a "SAMP" stack rather than a "LAMP" stack). We did this for many reasons (some of which are mentioned in an earlier post), but suffice it to say that the decision has turned out to be a very good one. Not only have we seen a dramatic increase in the availability of our service (Desktoptwo achieved a 99.999% uptime in the months of December and January... and it looks like February as well - fingers crossed), but we have also benefitted from Sun's generosity and willingness to share good news with us as they pursue their own brilliant future (no pun intended... ok, well, maybe intended a little bit).

The most recent example of this generosity came this week when Sun announced the completion of its MySQL acquisition (rather than elucidate the merits of that deal, just know that we think there are many!). Prior to the announcement, Sun asked some its partners, even new and relatively small ones like Sapotek, what they thought of the deal. We expressed our overwhelmingly positive views and, much to our pleasant surprise, my words were included within the official press release from Sun about the deal closing. Indeed, as you can see by clicking either of the links below (one from Sun.com and the other from MySQL's site), the only two individuals quoted in the release are Jonathan Schwartz, CEO/President of Sun, and, well, yours truly.

Official Sun Press Release re. MySQL Acquisition

Same PR from MySQL

In the end, I guess you could say that we're pretty proud of, and very happy with, our new friend and that this leap of faith wasn't such a gamble after all. Or, as my grandmother also liked to say, "How do you like 'dem apples!"

JDR

As you've no doubt noticed, Desktoptwo has a new homepage. Why did we do this, you ask? Well, first and foremost because the old homepage was simply inadequate. It didn't have a blog (this one does), it didn't have an active interface for instant updates (this one does) and it didn't look all that great (we think this one does and hope you agree). We also wanted to launch a new look becuase this year will bring dramatic changes to Desktoptwo and a whole host of new features will start to appear. So, in keeping with the theme of change (and despite the fact that this is an election year and that word "change" is played out), let's just say that we felt it was time for a "makeover." Consider this the first step.

As you well know by now from all our public statements, it is our goal to improve the Internet experience by making it more accessible to all, and Desktoptwo is but one part of that effort. We also, as many of you have discovered, sponsor a free software community - Sapodesk - and invite you to join us in developing more and better Rich Internet Applications for all to enjoy. Since its launch on June 21, 2007 (we liked the idea of launching a new initiative on the Summer Solstice... the whole rebirth and change thing, ya'know), Sapodesk has grown to a community of more than 1,000 members and has more than 55 projects underway. Ultimately, this is all part of a concerted effort to not only improve a fantastic free service [that is also a global community], but also to give you the tools and knowledge to develop your own web applications and services. In the end, the Internet, like so many other technological innovations, is a reflection of its creators, but with the added twist of having many "parents" who continually add their own personal touches into the mix. Why not you?

The little engine that could - Sapotek - has recently struck up a partnership with Sun Microsystems (yes... that same Sun of Java and Solaris fame, as well as many other not-so-insignificant technological contributions of the past 25 years). One of the benefits of this new partnership is that we are now deploying all of our services - Desktoptwo, Computadora.de and, last but not least, Sapodesk - from some fancy new Sun equipment, which is why we referred to a "shiny, new Sun cluster" in a recent desktop notice (think of it as going from driving a Chevy Nova to racing a Ferrari GTO).

Needless to say, we're extremely happy about this partnership, as you might imagine, and we will tell you more about it in the near future, including a description of some of the changes and improvements we've made as a result. But, in the meantime, we're so proud of our new cluster (or "Grid" as the sun folks like to say) that we want to show it to you. Take a look for yourselves and see why we're such proud papas.