Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Microsoft Invents Split Screen PC

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the let-me-have-less-please dept.

An anonymous reader writes "New technology from Microsoft Research India in Bangalore could end the waiting game in offices with limited computers. Researchers are developing software that splits a computer screen in two halves, each side with its own operating system, desktop, applications, cursor and keyboard." Mom! Timmy is on my side of the screen again!

11 of 348 comments (clear)

  1. It's been done before by kiyoshilionz · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Jetway Magic Twin MiniQ Computer

    One of our favorite things on slashdot! The obligatory "This isn't news, I've been doing it for X years!" post

  2. Crash! by gcostanzo · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Can the two OS's crash into eachother?

  3. Re:Bill Gates quoted saying: by Soruk · · Score: 1, Interesting

    The only thing that's newsworthy about this is Microsoft have no shame about shouting that they've been getting people to reinvent a wheel that has been around for about a decade. And it wouldn't be the first time, either. The new technology in NT? Virtual memory, straight from VMS.

    --
    -- Soruk
  4. Microsoft just needs to innovate by rolfwind · · Score: 3, Interesting

    how to split the mouse and keyboard effectively (ergonomic split keyboard?).

    Otherwise, why not just use dumb terminals? Because sharing a computer jostling the person next to you is going to be a nightmare.

    Not to mention the suckage of having your side of the monitor always in ultra-narrow landscape mode when most programs and OSes aren't made for that. Vertical scrolling is okay, horizontal is just plain tedious.

  5. Re:Too late for April fools! by Threni · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Sharing a screen using a high refresh rate and lcd glasses that shows each user alternate frames?

  6. Time sharing woes all over again by akypoon · · Score: 2, Interesting

    My understanding is that the the users will still be sharing the underlying processors, I/Os and memory. But since they could run different OSes and there are no mentioning of how the individual schedulers would share usage information, could this lead to worse time sharing behaviour and a further degrade in user experience?

    How about the good old CRTs? Used ones are dirt cheap in my local used markets. (For $10 you can get a 19".)

  7. Re:Fixed by timeOday · · Score: 5, Interesting

    if you can have each OS copy on a separate monitor (most cards today handle 2 monitors at least by standard), it's a really really good thing to have.
    Putting several terminals on a computer is a fine idea which has been done since long before the invention of the PC. But this is different; they are actually splitting a single screen in two. What a horrendous setup that is. And since the price of a display is superlinear in relation to its size, it wouldn't even be cheaper!
  8. Re:Too late for April fools! by hawaiian717 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    TO fix this bombay engineerd have developed a new spoken and written language based on a 13 letter alphabet.

    Actually, there's already a language out there with a 13 letter alphabet: Hawaiian.
    --
    End of Line.
  9. Targeting tech support? by ushering05401 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    It doesn't mention this in TFA, but tech support management apps that I have seen could easily fit on 1/2 a screen w/a tabbed interface. Your main tasks are to lookup the customers, record billable time, notate key points of the problem, read some stepped hep files, and pass it on if the fix is not simple.

    And considering this was developed in India there just might be something to this.

    Regards.

  10. Re:Fixed by Locutus · · Score: 3, Interesting

    An application window essentially splits the screen and could easily be sized to equally split a single screen in two parts. So, considering that the application is something like VNC and VNC is connecting to a virtual machine running on your computer then you already have two computers running on one computer with split screen support. The only thing they did was implement something like the dual-head/multi-user stuff being done with Linux for that past 4 or 5 years so that the host computer has multiple input I/O channels.

    go see http://www.userful.com/ and/or Google for "hp 441 linux multiuser multi-head"

    We're talking about some really basic 'remixing' here and it's not THAT wiz-bang IMO. Heck, VMware and VirtualBox already use VNC for their remote GUI display of VM's. But hey, glad to see Microsoft ReSearch catching on to stuff that's been around for quite some time on other platforms.

    LoB

    --
    "Anyone who stands out in the middle of a road looks like roadkill to me." --Linus
  11. Re:Fixed by Eivind · · Score: 2, Interesting
    True, I wondered about that.

    Having multiple users on a single computer at the same time is a fine idea. But why not put 2 users on, each with a 15" screen, instead of letting them share a 19" ? It'll give them more space, more freedom (you head doesn't have to be 10 inches from mine...) and would actually be cheaper.

    The idea is old though. Really old.