What happened to Desktop.com?  Especially to the code that powered the
application?  Here is a picture of the application:
http://tinyurl.com/6kgs4

Hi there, it looks like Desktop.com disappeared. There are quite a few
articles about its promise on C|Net (http://www.news.com) from 1999
and 2000. An article from 2003
(http://news.com.com/Start-up+eyes+Microsofts+crown/2100-1023_3-251368.html)
says:

"Some of the pioneering members of the Web application infrastructure
vanguard have already fallen by the wayside, felled by lack of
developer and consumer interest in their offerings and by the recent
doldrums in the venture capital markets for technology start-ups.

These include Desktop.com, a start-up launched in 1999 that provided
an API (application programming interface) for Web-based applications.
Desktop.com closed its doors late last year."

Desktop.com was started by Katie Burke and Larry Drebes.  The site
last appeared in the Wayback Machine on Dec. 06, 2000.
http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.desktop.com

The promising start-up received $29 million in financing.
http://www.internetnews.com/ec-news/article.php/186901

Like most of the companies you hear about in the burst of the dot-com
bubble, they managed to blow through the money rather quickly.  They
shut down late in December 2000.  Evidently they had used "about" half
of the $29 million and promised to return the remaining half to
investors.
http://www.timesizing.com/ban0102s.htm
http://www.whiteandlee.com/papers_corporate_2001.html

While I have no idea where you might acquire the code they were using,
the Wayback Machine cache shows that they were beginning to license
APIs allowing other companies to customize the interface, so it may
still be possible to get ahold of it somehow.  One possible avenue
would be to track down and contact Burke or Drebes.