Maria, James, and I are the kind of people who enjoy life, not particularly politically correct. We live and work according to the motto "everybody’s different". We are warm, open, and helpful in our dealings with other people. In a world that sometimes seems to get out of hand, we try to radiate calm, reliability, and serenity.

Maria, James, and I love our professions and practice it with enthusiasm and dedication, taking on one or the other role depending on the situation. Maria's repertoire ranges from carefree Lolita to dashing IT system administrator to femme fatale. James feels primarily duty-bound to the English servant tradition, but also knows how to make the ladies happy in the role of Casanova. All of it purely platonic, of course.

Maria, James and I stand for tolerance and against discrimination. But we also stand for self-respect. The tolerance that we show others is something we also demand for ourselves. We will not apologise for how we live, how we act, or how we think.

We help you work more productively, stop overlooking important information, and put a smile on your face every now and then to make you a little happier - that's our product promise.

With one mouse click, you can access your cloud applications (e.g., your project management tool); with a second mouse click, you have an overview of your most important information (e.g., your pending tasks), and with a third mouse click, you open the corresponding page in the web browser (e.g., one of your open tasks). With just one click, you can view the latest news from your favorite news sites or the latest job offers for your job profile at your favorite job portals.

With red, yellow, and green light stripes on your desktop, we notify you when there is a fire, there could be a fire, or simply new tasks, news, or job offers have arrived.

When you start your notebook, you'll be welcomed by either Maria on her stylish scooter or James on his hip cargo bike. Both with a smile on their face because they are looking forward to supporting you in your work with full enthusiasm.

Do you still remember your first teddy? From an adult's rational point of view, a body of soft, cuddly fur, a few buttons or plastic discs as eyes, a simple nose, and usually an embroidered mouth. From a child's point of view, a living being that protects you, does not scold you, does not give wise advice, and provides a feeling of safety and security.

We live in a time of global crises: Corona, climate change, war in Europe. The world of work is also becoming more flexible and fast-moving. In Berlin, software developers change jobs every 1.5 years. Economic and emotional stability doesn't sound like much.

We want to be your Teddy 2.0. When you open your notebook in the morning, we are eagerly waiting for the internet connection to get the latest information from the web and create your personal morning briefing. Tirelessly we support you during your working day (one click: all current tasks; one click: your daily calendar; Attention! New high priority ticket; Attention! Meeting scheduled at short notice; Attention! Server downtime). Whatever happens, no matter how stressful it gets, we are with you. If you want, we will accompany you throughout your entire professional life. Jobs come and go, colleagues come and go, we stay.

I see myself as a creative coder as a singer/songwriter for software, according to which look & feel of the Maria & James Desktop Assistant and its features correspond to personal preferences and convictions, framed by personal economic and socio-political beliefs into a gesamtkunstwerk.

It is not a software product based on market research to maximize the number of customers and profit. The goal is to offer juniors, seniors, and freelancers working in the digital economy how they can get a little more organized and have some fun during their working days. Love it, hate it, or ignore it. Whereby I have nothing against the business model of start-ups and investors as long as employees and customers are treated respectfully.

Art is a human cultural product, the result of a creative process; in the end, there is usually a work of art. Against all odds and self-doubts, Artists always keep on-going to realize their art.

In this sense, Maria & James belongs to Fine Arts rather than Fast Fashion. It's not about meeting the average customer's expectations of a productivity tool, developing it cost-effectively, and monetizing it optimally. It is about creating a coherent product that inspires people and, at the same time, tells them something about me.

K. Anders Ericcson's 10,000-hour rule states that you need to practice for about 10,000 hours to perfection and become a master of your craft. I have spent more than 25,000 hours in front of the PC developing software - by day, by night - in the past with pizza and Cola, today fresh salad and Matcha tea - building, rebuilding, renovation, demolition - great moments, defeats - whether it was enough for perfection? Just try it with a personal desktop assistant (m/f/d) and decide for yourself.

Even though I owned an Apple ][ many years ago, had and have touchpoints with Linux, I spent most of my hours on a Windows PC. Therefore, the Maria & James Desktop Assistant is only available for Windows 10/11.

Maria & James does not offer individual support - breathe in, breathe out, read on.

Bad? No, because working together with Maria & James is a child's play - we will offer you a helping hand for the first installation, later when adding more quickies and provide you regular tips on getting more benefits from your personal assistant.

If you have problems with the installation or if one of your quickies goes on strike, then it is usually caused by missing rights on your PC, a network problem, missing rights for the API of the application that your quickie wants to connect to, or wrong login data. In all these cases, your system or network admin can solve the issues for you much better than we ever could because he knows your PC, have access rights to your local network and the corresponding servers.

If your despair becomes too great because you run out of ideas and your colleagues are also at a loss, then you can join the Maria & James groups on LinkedIn, where you can exchange with others. And you can meet us there too.

It's about focus: We are the ones who build great cars, the ones who make people drive are others.

Maria & James helps people, who spend several hours every day at her PC or laptop, to work more productive and relaxed and save valuable working time.

Maria & James is more of a manufacturer than a start-up – our goal is to provide our customers with a product that makes their everyday work more comfortable and puts a smile on their faces time after time. The goal is not limitless growth for the company, but satisfied and grateful customers.

It borders on megalomania to claim that a personal desktop assistant is an adequate substitute for a personal flesh-and-blood assistant – but it, too, can noticeably relieve its "boss" of some of his or her daily tasks. It, too, can make someone laugh, give them a feeling of security, and sometimes even drive them up the wall.

Not everyone has the privilege of being able to fall back on a personal assistant. By contrast, a personal desktop assistant falls into the category of affordable luxury. For just a few euros a month, your own PC or laptop will have a good soul that will help you around the clock. Let's call it “work/life balance booster”.