diff --git a/shell/sugar-activity b/shell/sugar-activity
index 6f5c9741..75aa967f 100755
--- a/shell/sugar-activity
+++ b/shell/sugar-activity
@@ -18,30 +18,53 @@
 
 import sys
 import os
-import gobject
 
+import gtk
+import dbus
+import dbus.glib
+
+from sugar.activity import bundleregistry
 from sugar.activity import activityfactory
+from sugar.activity import activityfactoryservice
 from sugar import env
-from sugar import util
 
-def _success_cb(handler, activity, loop):
-    activity.start(util.unique_id())
-    loop.quit()
+def _setup_bus_address():
+    '''Use the bus address of the running Sugar'''
+    bus_file = os.path.join(env.get_profile_path(), "session_bus_address")
+    f = open(bus_file, "r")
+    bus_name = f.read()
+    f.close()
+    os.environ['DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS'] = bus_name
 
-def _error_cb(handler, err, loop):
-    loop.quit()
+def _success_cb(handler, exit):
+    if exit:
+        gtk.main_quit()
 
-ppath = env.get_profile_path()
-bus_file = os.path.join(ppath, "session_bus_address")
-f = open(bus_file, "r")
-bus_name = f.read()
-f.close()
-os.environ['DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS'] = bus_name
+def _error_cb(handler, err):
+    print err
+    gtk.main_quit()
 
-loop = gobject.MainLoop()
+_setup_bus_address()
 
-handler = activityfactory.create(sys.argv[1])
-handler.connect('success', _success_cb, loop)
-handler.connect('error', _error_cb, loop)
+service_name = sys.argv[1]
+registry = bundleregistry.get_registry()
+bundle = registry.get_bundle(service_name)
 
-loop.run()
+bus = dbus.SessionBus()
+bus_object = bus.get_object('org.freedesktop.DBus', '/org/freedesktop/DBus')
+try:
+    name = bus_object.GetNameOwner(
+        service_name, dbus_interface='org.freedesktop.DBus')
+except  dbus.DBusException:
+    name = None
+
+if name:
+    print '%s is already running, creating a new instance.' % service_name
+else:
+    activityfactoryservice.run(bundle.get_path())
+
+handler = activityfactory.create(service_name)
+handler.connect('success', _success_cb, name != None)
+handler.connect('error', _error_cb)
+
+gtk.main()
diff --git a/shell/sugar-activity-factory b/shell/sugar-activity-factory
index 009b4609..bad6aa8a 100755
--- a/shell/sugar-activity-factory
+++ b/shell/sugar-activity-factory
@@ -20,4 +20,6 @@ import sys
 
 from sugar.activity import activityfactoryservice
 
-activityfactoryservice.run(sys.argv)
+activityfactoryservice.run_with_args(sys.argv)
+
+gtk.main()
diff --git a/sugar/activity/activityfactory.py b/sugar/activity/activityfactory.py
index 695d149c..cd632ca1 100644
--- a/sugar/activity/activityfactory.py
+++ b/sugar/activity/activityfactory.py
@@ -53,16 +53,16 @@ def _find_activity_id():
     return act_id
 
 class ActivityCreationHandler(gobject.GObject):
-
     __gsignals__ = {
-        'error':       (gobject.SIGNAL_RUN_FIRST,
-                        gobject.TYPE_NONE, 
-                       ([gobject.TYPE_PYOBJECT])),
+        'success': (gobject.SIGNAL_RUN_FIRST,
+                    gobject.TYPE_NONE, ([])),
+        'error':   (gobject.SIGNAL_RUN_FIRST,
+                    gobject.TYPE_NONE, 
+                   ([gobject.TYPE_PYOBJECT]))
     }
 
     def __init__(self, service_name, activity_handle):
         gobject.GObject.__init__(self)
-
         self._service_name = service_name
         self._activity_handle = activity_handle
 
@@ -83,6 +83,7 @@ class ActivityCreationHandler(gobject.GObject):
     def _reply_handler(self, xid):
         logging.debug("Activity created %s (%s)." % 
             (self._activity_handle.activity_id, self._service_name))
+        self.emit('success')
 
     def _error_handler(self, err):
         logging.debug("Couldn't create activity %s (%s): %s" %
diff --git a/sugar/activity/activityfactoryservice.py b/sugar/activity/activityfactoryservice.py
index 548ff33f..723c31e1 100644
--- a/sugar/activity/activityfactoryservice.py
+++ b/sugar/activity/activityfactoryservice.py
@@ -77,22 +77,25 @@ class ActivityFactoryService(dbus.service.Object):
         if len(self._activities) == 0:
             gtk.main_quit()
 
-def run(args):
+def run_with_args(args):
     """Start the activity factory."""
     parser = OptionParser()
     parser.add_option("-p", "--bundle-path", dest="bundle_path",
                       help="path to the activity bundle")
     (options, args) = parser.parse_args()
 
-    sys.path.insert(0, options.bundle_path)
+    run(options.bundle_path)
 
-    bundle = Bundle(options.bundle_path)
+def run(bundle_path):
+    sys.path.insert(0, bundle_path)
+
+    bundle = Bundle(bundle_path)
 
     logger.start(bundle.get_name())
 
-    os.environ['SUGAR_BUNDLE_PATH'] = options.bundle_path
+    os.environ['SUGAR_BUNDLE_PATH'] = bundle_path
     os.environ['SUGAR_BUNDLE_SERVICE_NAME'] = bundle.get_service_name()
     os.environ['SUGAR_BUNDLE_DEFAULT_TYPE'] = bundle.get_default_type()
 
-    factory = ActivityFactoryService(bundle.get_service_name(), args[0])
-    gtk.main()
+    factory = ActivityFactoryService(bundle.get_service_name(),
+                                     bundle.get_class())
diff --git a/sugar/activity/bundle.py b/sugar/activity/bundle.py
index 8980a115..c4f85030 100644
--- a/sugar/activity/bundle.py
+++ b/sugar/activity/bundle.py
@@ -43,8 +43,8 @@ class Bundle:
 
         if cp.has_option(section, 'class'):
             self._class = cp.get(section, 'class')
-            self._exec = '%s %s --bundle-path="%s"' % (
-              env.get_bin_path(_PYTHON_FACTORY), self._class, self.get_path())
+            self._exec = '%s --bundle-path="%s"' % (
+              env.get_bin_path(_PYTHON_FACTORY), self.get_path())
         elif cp.has_option(section, 'exec'):
             self._class = None
             self._exec = cp.get(section, 'exec')
@@ -105,7 +105,7 @@ class Bundle:
 
     def get_class(self):
         """Get the main Activity class"""
-        return self._exec
+        return self._class
 
     def get_show_launcher(self):
         """Get whether there should be a visible launcher for the activity"""