Activity management tool

A non-transitory computer readable storage medium including instructions that, when executed by a computing system, cause the computing system to perform a set of operations comprising:

• displaying, on a screen of the computing system, a currently active window of one of a plurality of applications installed on the computing system, and a menu bar comprising an activities menu bar item;
• receiving a user request for an overview of activities available to a user on the computing system in response to the user activating the activities menu bar item on the menu bar while interacting with the currently active window;
• in response to the user request for the overview of the available activities, identifying the available activities pertaining to the plurality of applications installed on the computing system;
• identifying open windows of the installed applications, the open windows comprising the currently active window;
• transitioning from the displayed currently active window to a desktop environment represented by an activity overview graphical user interface (GUI) for presenting the overview of the available activities, the activity overview GUI having a first area and a second area, the first area comprising visual indicators of the installed applications on the computing system, and the second area comprising the open windows of the installed applications, wherein transitioning from the displayed currently active window to the desktop environment represented by the activity overview GUI comprises including the currently active window in the second area in a resized form as one of the open windows;
• and
• responsive to a user request to launch an installed application displayed in the first area that is not presently running on the computer system, launching the installed application.

A computing system comprising:

• a memory;
• a display device, coupled to the memory, to display a currently active window of one of a plurality of applications installed on the computing system, and a menu bar comprising an activities menu bar item;
• at least one processor coupled to the memory and the display device;
• and
• an operating system executed by the at least one processor to:
• receive a user request for an overview of activities available to a user on the computing system in response to the user activating the activities menu bar item on the menu bar while interacting with the currently active window;
• identify the available activities pertaining to the plurality of applications installed on the computing system;
• identify open windows of the installed applications, the open windows comprising the currently active window;
• transition, on the display device, from the displayed currently active window to a desktop environment represented by an activity overview graphical user interface (GUI) having a first area and a second area, the first area comprising visual indicators of the installed applications, and the second area comprising the open windows of the installed applications, wherein transitioning from the displayed currently active window to the desktop environment represented by the activity overview GUI comprises including the currently active window in the second area in a resized form as one of the open windows;
• and
• responsive to a user request to launch an installed application displayed in the first area that is not presently running on the computer system, launch the installed application.