Dual display mode?

[Atomic]

So exactly how would this work?All they need is a second mouse and keyboard? http://dsc.discovery.com/news/...91530I bet this would be difficult on a 15" monitor. edit: copy and paste this: (http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2007/05/0 ... 0420091530)

[damronjr]

Linky no worky!

[coldmm803]

i dont have a clue how that works, i'm guessing it allows 2 users on at once, like if you select log off from the start menu. personally i wouldnt want to split anything less than a 30" monitor, i have a 19" and think thats perfect.i see this causeing health issues, strained neck and stuff from having to always look at the monitor from an angle. IMO, to an extent it would also be less efficient, less work getting done per person in a day

[northvibe]

theres a couple ways it could do this.1. emulate each instance of windows running and make the resolution only half the screen.There then could be a external device like a kvm for having 2 mice and keyboards.2. 2 partitions of windows install and the computer would boot from one then an emulated one would boot up off the 2nd partition and be on the 2nd half of the screen.From the looks I couldnt even work on a screen like that. second, im not sure how they expect to have windows xp or vista be able to run on computers in the 3rd world as im sure they arent 3ghz monsters that could handle that sort of emulation. Cool idea but they'd have to ship wide screen monitors to make it that useful, imo.

[ajconover]

If you are asking how it would work pragmatically.... probably pretty poorly, IMO. Mostly due to logistical reasons.From a technical standpoint -- as a software developer myself -- I would likely attempt to implement this idea using a modified version of "Windows Terminal Services", which normally allows multiple remote client machines to access one server machine. If you have ever used the "remote desktop" feature in Windows-XP Pro, you have used the part of same technology. (I do this all the time with my old/slow laptop to remotely access my much faster desktop machine via Wi-Fi.) If you have ever used the "switch user" feature of Windows XP, you have used the other major portion of this technology. If you have user-switching enabled, each user can keep all there own programs running, with just one person interacting with the machine at a time.If you used a modified "terminal services" client, it wouldn't be that hard to simply display two "remote" sessions on the same desktop... effectively having the same hardware acting as both the client and the server. (In Linux/Unix, the X-Windows system works in much this way already). Assigning each mouse and keyboard to the appropriate session (screen) would be pretty easy if they were all USB devices.Most of the multi-user infrastructure for this idea is already built into windows.... so there would be no need to run two copies of Windows or anything like that. Anyway... for what it's worth... that's my $.02. Like I say, what I described is just how I would attempt to tackle the problem if it were one of my development projects. I have no inside knowledge about how they are actually doing it.

[Atomic]

Yes, I did mean how well it would work for each user.I was thinking about the shared screen idea, and would each person possibly get confused by the other's display of information?Aren't there some PC games that allow 2-up displays via software now, or is that only on the gaming consoles?

[ajconover]

Yeah... split screen console/computer games have been around for 20+ years (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballblazer -- one of my favorites from my youth)... but in that situation, being able to see your opponent's/partner's screen is an advantage to both players. I would think that two people working on two different tasks on a split screen would be terribly annoying, distracting, and confusing... I often take up two complete monitors by myself, when doing development work. I don't know of any games on the PC that use a split screen, though I'd be willing to bet they do exist... but the ability to easily network games now probably eliminates most of that need. Though I have seen dual mice and keyboards used on a single machine (sharing the same screen) for "Pair Programming". The idea is based on the "two heads are better than one" idea where each two programmers can basically write code "tag team style". I've also seen this setup up for artists, animators, etc.But in all these cases, the people sharing the machine are engaged in a pair activity. Two people sharing one screen -- doing two different things -- would probably really suck.