The Browser is Dead—Long Live the Browser Workspace

We owe browsers a big debt of gratitude; we’ve come so far together. But is it time to move into the next generation of browsers, especially for business? Are browser workspaces the right direction to pursue?

Put some respect on its name

In a world filled with constant hype and increasingly bombastic technology promises, the lowly browser gets little to no respect. Even the name browser speaks to something pretty passive and unremarkable. How do you want to be remembered in life? Probably not as a browser (although Internet Explorer sounds decidedly cooler).

All this for something you might spend more time with than the people you like and love the most. This is a tough realization (I had to make it too), but it’s generally true, especially with services increasingly delivered via SaaS. Your browser is your world.

Still putting in the work, 35 years later

One thing is clear, if you ever bet against the browser, or wrote one of those ‘the browser is dead’ articles, all is forgiven. But as many times as people have decided the world has moved past browsers, they’re actually way more powerful than they were when first created in 1990.

This point hit me recently as I prepared to roadtrip with the family. I didn’t want to bring an expensive laptop, but 3 weeks doing everything with a phone didn’t sound fun either. My solution was a refurbished Chromebook, two generations old and costing less than taking everybody out for a hamburger.

Definitely a lot it couldn’t do, and I looked terrible on the potatovision camera. But I could log into all my SaaS apps and keep those workflows moving. And I could also log into all my AI tools and keep those workflows moving. 

At the bottom of it all was the browser, in this case, Chrome. It was the portal to every document, every destination, every decision we needed. From making a hotel reservation to deep AI research across a robust stack of documents, the browser was the great leveler.

If browsers are so critical, why are they still so difficult to use after all this time?

A browser by itself is made for browsing, not organizing. That’s one downside to the whole metaphor (and how it’s applied in software). It was built for a time when we were happier to browse one thing at a time. That single window had your full intention.

But now, if you’re even slightly normal, your browsers probably always feel a little chaotic. You’ve either lived or heard the jokes about 462 open tabs and 11 windows. You’ve wasted hours hunting for the right tab, getting mad about how small they get, just when there’s so many of them.

It all starts with the problem that we often use the same browser to order lunch and analyze important work files. Those are very different tasks, but to the browser, everything mostly looks the same. That puts the burden on IT and security teams to enable modern productivity without introducing new risks.

Times are changing, but browsers aren’t keeping up

That leaves it all up to users, already doing all their work with the browser, to try and organize and manage that work in all its complexity. And the way we work is only making the challenges worse.,

• As mentioned, the increase in SaaS and AI means we’re doing more inside our browser than ever
• Because of hybrid work, many of us are connecting to work across multiple devices, and sometimes multiple browsers across the day
• The increased worries about information security and privacy are putting more pressure on IT to carefully evaluate user tools, including the browser.

This is exactly the problem. The browser is great for browsing. But how do you make it great at remembering, managing, organizing, sharing, and enabling collaboration?

You can leave it up to users like me to wrestle their way through it. But if that was a solution, we wouldn’t be here in the first place, right?

Or, alternately, you could make the move to a browser workspace.

What exactly is a browser workspace?

A browser workspace lets users organize tabs, bookmarks, and extensions into distinct environments based on projects or tasks. This compartmentalization streamlines multitasking, reduces tab overload, and enhances focus by separating work, personal, and collaborative activities. Workspaces can be shared with team members, enabling seamless collaboration and resource sharing.

Many workspaces also include split view tools, allowing users to display multiple tabs side by side within the same window for easier comparison or referencing. Additional organizational aids like tab grouping, color coding, and extensions for saving and restoring tab sessions further help users manage complex information and maintain an efficient workflow.

Finally, many browsers offer cross-device syncing, allowing users to access workspaces anywhere. Enhanced security controls protect sensitive data, making browser workspaces ideal for both individuals and organizations. Emerging in the early 2020s, browser workspaces evolved from earlier tab management and session tools to meet the needs of modern users.

What difference does it make?

Let’s look at some of the problems you’re facing with your browser and how a workspace can help.

How do you organize your browser between work and non-work duties? Can you use the same browser for all the applications you use inside a day? How do you retain context?

A browser workspace lets you separate work and personal activities into distinct spaces, so you can keep projects, tabs, and applications organized and easily switch between them without losing context.

Do you want a browser that remembers you and tracks your preferences and maybe even helps keep you signed into the 5712 applications and services you use every 24 hours?

Browser workspaces can remember your login states and preferences within each workspace, making it easier to stay signed in and maintain personalized settings.

How are you supposed to manage all those tabs inside the browser? Once you have more than two open, what’s the plan for keeping them organized?

With browser workspaces, you can group related tabs, allowing you to organize your browsing by task, project, or theme for easier navigation.

How do you turn tabs into saved bookmarks you can return to? And, just like browsers, how can you keep your saved stuff organized? How do you stay efficient and effective as you “browse”?

Browser workspaces let you save sets of tabs as collections within each workspace, so you can return to your saved resources and keep everything neatly organized for future use.

Once you find all the good stuff, whether it’s content or just a set of helpful links, how do you share it with other teams or users?

Many browser workspaces offer sharing features, allowing you to send an entire workspace or collection of tabs to teammates so everyone can access the same resources instantly.

If you did share stuff, can you collaborate in a shared browser that lets teams explore and discover together? Or are you stuck with emailing links like it’s 1990?

Many browser workspaces support real-time collaboration, letting multiple users explore, edit, and organize tabs together in a shared environment, making teamwork seamless and efficient.

I made the upgrade – so far, so great

After many years of the problems discussed above, my new laptop was a chance to try and set some new habits. Rather than simply reinstalling my favorite browser, I decided to try and give a browser workspace a try. Early results so far:

• Much better organization. I visualize each workspace as a large work table. This is where I can stack documents and content and invite other people to collaborate with me. Yes, the table is eventually cluttered, but cleaning it versus the whole room isn’t bad.
• A lot less time spent searching for things. Now that I have the habit down, I keep tabs organized and all in one place. That cuts time to locate important content way down. I can use labels and even icons to help me quickly sort through workspaces.
• I’ve got a job-related workspace that’s now synced with my phone. This makes it easier to stay connected with work when I am away from my laptop.
• My AI workflows are much less stressful. Even on a recent machine, AI processing takes time, so I find myself spending a lot of time in and out of those tabs. Spectate workspaces let me collect my AI tools, inputs, and outputs, all in one place.
• I also work with clients who don’t want their information anywhere near AI tools. The workspace is yet another layer of protection. I don’t open or import anything ultrasensitive into that workspace. This is especially important at the enterprise level –some platforms let IT teams enforce security and policy by workspace.

Admit it: you’re more than a browser—and you deserve tools built for more too

No matter how little time you spend online, the browser is still probably the center of your digital world.  In many ways, it’s become the new device.

If this is true, the browser workspace is probably the new business machine, designed to help you:

• Stay focused on the task at hand, even if it’s not work at all
• Get connected quickly to the right data and applications
• Share and collaborate with less stress

The way you work has been changing for a long time, even if your tools haven’t.  Upgrading to a browser workspace is a great way to supercharge your productivity with very little learning curve required.  That’s the very best kind of upgrade–and they don’t come along very often. We’d be fools to sit this one out.