Drowning in tabs? OpenWorkspace’s two-zone desktop app offers a radical solution

PC users have a hoarding problem. A tab-hoarding problem, to be more specific. Our browsers are filled to the brim with dozens, if not hundreds of tabs, lingering remnants of our web travels that we refuse to let go of in fear of never being able to find them again — even though sifting through endless browser tabs cripples productivity.

OpenWorkspace, a new piece of Windows and MacOS software that was revealed at CES 2026, has an elegant solution to the tab-hoarding dilemma — and it does so by tossing the PC’s traditional application-focused approach out the window in favor of something that I personally find so much more compelling. In fact, I’ve tried kludging my way to similar workflows using a mish-mash of various tools in the past and OpenWorkspace does it so much more elegantly.

I didn’t expect to stumble across software that could completely revolutionize the way I use my PC while wandering around the CES 2026 show floor, but hey, I guess I should expect the unexpected in Las Vegas.

How OpenWorkspace reimagines desktop productivity

OpenWorkspace’s press release calls it “a desktop automation platform that saves and automatically restores complete desktop layouts,” and while that’s technically true, if anything, it undersells the program’s usefulness a bit.

Let’s walk through this step by step, starting with how the software actually handles before we get into the tab management bit.

Designed for large monitors or multi-monitor setups, OpenWorkspace completely takes over your primary desktop with its dual-region “FocalContextual” interface. You’re able to define a section in the middle of the screen where one or more tabs — the core information about the project you’re currently working on — sit front and center. Supplementary tabs can be staged in a secondary holding section around the edges of the display, where they’re still available at a glance, but don’t dominate your central focus, ready to be summoned at a moment’s notice. Think of it like doing manual work on a physical desk; your immediate work sits in front of you, with supporting papers spread around the periphery.

This is one of the two secret sauces baked into OpenWorkspace, and the concept that flips traditional computing concepts on its head. Windows 11’s current tiling system offers nothing like it.

Think about it: Ever since the PC’s graphical user interface debuted in Xerox PARC in the 1970s, it has been focused on applications, not your actual workflow focus. That’s why tab hoarding happens; you keep all those sites open in a singular browser window. It’s no way to live. OpenWorkspace makes your focus your focus instead of the overall application itself.

Founder David Adler told me it was inspired by his work in the high-frequency trading industry, where every second of delay can cost you real money. Setups like this are must-use in that field, Adler told me, but there’s nothing like it in the consumer space — OpenWorkspace is his solution.

How OpenWorkspace kills tab hoarding dead

But the FocalContextual interface is just part of OpenWorkspace’s secret sauce. The other part is how quickly it can save and cycle through premade tab layouts — a serious time-saver that helps keep you laser-focused on the task at hand.

Creating a new workspace takes mere minutes, aided by keyboard shortcuts and visual cues built into the app that makes arranging windows fast and easy. Once you’ve arranged a workspace — ideally around a specific focus theme, like “the Johnson project” or “my Nebraska 2026 trip” — you can save it, and then summon it instantly to pick up where you left off.

It’s stunningly fast. Flick your fingers over a keyboard shortcut and BOOM! You’re back to the last project. Do it again and BOOM! Another workspace appears instantly, with primary and secondary windows arranged just like you left them. Adios, endlessly hunting for tabs buried deep inside Chrome.

“Research shows that manually restoring the 6 to 12 windows and documents required for a typical task takes 70 to140 seconds, while OpenWorkspace restores the same environments in 2 to 3 seconds for an approximately 40× reduction in time-to-task,” the company’s announcement says. “By capturing complete desktop states as workspaces, OpenWorkspace frees the user from this manual overhead and places that responsibility on the system.”

I believe it — OpenWorkspace’s task switching is that fast.

It’s because the software saves the layout, window, and setting arrangement as a proprietary file format (locally — your data never touches the cloud). Activating a workspace summonses the whole configuration immediately.

The setup has additional benefits as well. OpenWorkspace runs on both Windows PCs and Macs, with Linux support envisioned in the future. Since OpenWorkspace saves entire workspace layouts, it’s easy to share them with others as well — adios, complex documents full of stodgy links. As PCWorld’s manager, I could immediately picture sharing workspaces to make, say, employee onboarding and project management so much easier in my organization.

Pricing and availability

OpenWorkspace is expected to launch in February for $180 as an annual license, with major feature updates aimed at a quarterly basis. Think speech support, the ability to use Workspace beyond browser tabs, and so on.

That’s a steep fee for consumer software, which makes sense given its business-centric utility. That said, after using the app at CES 2026, I could absolutely see myself paying up for OpenWorkspace, especially if it adds the ability to manage other programs like Word, Excel, and Discord.

You see, I’m already a believer in focused, contextual workspaces. I paid for Stardock’s Groupy 2 app long ago, so I can bundle open programs together like browser tabs. When I work on a project, I create a Groupy window with the Word doc I’m working in, any reference materials, my Excel spreadsheet data, and so forth. I do the same for gaming apps, swapping between the “work and play” contexts using Windows 11’s virtual desktops feature.

My janky little setup works, and helps me stay focused, but it’s nevertheless a major kludge — and it’s still centralized around the long-held idea of manually managing individual windows and clicking through tabs. (Ugh.) Using OpenWorkspace feels infinitely better and faster.

It still has a few wrinkles to iron out, but I cannot wait to get my hands on OpenWorkspace with my own system. I could get so much more done so much faster.