Roden Crater, James Turrell. Photographed by Agostino De Rosa, 2009.
Today, The Browser Company of New York is entering into an agreement to be acquired by Atlassian in an all-cash transaction. We will operate independently, with Dia as our focus. Our objective is to bring Dia to the masses.
Now that the headline is out of the way, we have to admit: it’s an odd experience writing an acquisition announcement. How do you fit five years of sweat, risk, and late nights into a few paragraphs? Especially when we still feel at the beginning of what we set out to do.
In truth, this piece forced us to ask a hard question “What does it mean to win?” It can be uncomfortable to confront your true motivations and your full aspirations. This experience forced us to do just that. Why are we here?
For us, our bet has always been about the web browser as the future of computing — to make the quality of our lives online better. From Arc to Dia, our unwavering belief has been that the browser is the most important — and most neglected — software in modern life. It’s the center of gravity on our computers, and yet it hadn’t evolved in over a decade.
And from the beginning, we chose to tell our story publicly because we want to ask these questions openly. Even when that left us more vulnerable to judgment. For five years, across three products and two brands, we’ve shared the highs and the lows, the good and the ugly. Which is why we feel an obligation to follow through now, at the most important moment in our company’s life so far.
But first, and most importantly, we want to explain what this means for the products so many of you have come to know, love, and help build alongside us:
Dia will remain our focus , with new resources to bring it to other platforms faster.
Arc and Arc Search will continue to exist , and we’ll share a long-term plan soon.
Our largest vision, a cross-platform browser as an OS, is now closer than ever.
... continue reading