To the Future and Back

Today, we’re introducing OpenWorkspace®, and releasing it for general availability.

The Journey to OpenWorkspace®

I started developing OpenWorkspace® at the onset of the pandemic, driven by my personal experience spending tens of thousans of hours at the desktop over the course of a decade-long career in financial markets—where technology has far outpaced traditional industries. The mission was to recreate the automation-driven desktop experience I had grown accustomed to in the niche industry of proprietary trading—initially to regain my personal efficiency through automating window management, and ultimately to make this way of working accessible to professionals across various industries.

From Trading Desks to Everyday Desktops

When I transitioned from markets to broader cross-functional work, I quickly noticed the limitations of beloved systems like Windows and macOS. As a trader, I relied on high-frequency trading systems that delivered a nearly frictionless workflow. Algorithms processed and acted on information in real time, one thousand times faster than manual input. And information management was a mindless task that happened in parallel with real work. All of it was vital for maintaining a competitive edge.

In contrast, the typical desktop experience is labor-intensive and rife with friction.  Users must constantly recall which information they need, surface it manually, and arrange it by hand.  Despite these inefficiencies, the desktop remains a cornerstone of our personal computing experience—a timeless classic more critical to our productivity than ever before.

A Desktop Stuck in Time

Today’s desktop that characterizes popular systems like Windows and macOS still adheres to design principles from the 1970s.  It was built for the small monitors of the past, with entirely manual workflows. As monitors grew larger and our work became more complex, the desktop failed to evolve, becoming a legacy long overdue for an upgrade.

What OpenWorkspace® Brings to the Table.

OpenWorkspace® delivers this much-needed update by enhancing your existing system with proprietary technology that redefines what’s possible on the desktop. It offers advanced capabilities like the ability to surface pre-configured window and tab layouts on-demand (tailored for knowledge workers, creatives, and students who value desktop efficiency but lack access to specialized technology), and the ability to expand your classic desktop GUI to fit today’s larger monitors and move beyond outdated multiple-monitor setups (built for users that have transitioned into larger monitors, or those intending to).

OpenWorkspace® is named after its standout feature: the ability to open a layout of windows across your desktop with just one click.  I found this feature invaluable in trading, but it’s even more critical for industries where information is scattered and harder to locate. This concept, known as “Workspaces” is one of two fundamental advancements OpenWorkspace® adds to your operating system.

The second innovation is an advanced graphical user interface (GUI), designed to accommodate modern, large desktop monitors. This idea emerged from my experience working on a curved TV, where the traditional desktop felt incompatible with the size and scale of the display.

Beyond Window Management

But OpenWorkspace® is about more than window management or solving the multi-monitor dilemma. It’s about the opportunity to move both forward and backward at once.

• Forward, By modernizing the desktop, preparing it for the next decade of work and play, and possibly extending its relevance for another 50 years.
• And Backward: By introducing all-new state-of-the-art technology built on a path pointing in the opposite direction of the foreign concepts being proposed today.  The road backwards is new, but familiar, harkening back the nostalgia and excitement of the personal computing revolution of the ’80s and ’90s—a time when none other than the desktop was the cutting-edge frontier of technology.

Join the Movement

Explore OpenWorkspace’s full potential through its two-part introduction.  But first, join the waitlist to secure a free upgrade to your desktop and enjoy a complimentary 14-day trial of OpenWorkspace’s window & tab management system.

Here’s to getting started,

David Adler

Creator – OpenWorkspace® | WorkDisplay®