Slashdot Mirror
Microsoft Invents Split Screen PC
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!
Making you think you're crazy is a billion dollar industry.
...is a Hello Kitty theme. I'd gladly suffer it just to piss the other guy off!
"that's the dumbest fucking idea I've heard since I've been at Microsoft."
Two virtual desktops on one screen! What will they think of next?
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
If you look at the article the whole idea seems rather silly due to extremely limited screen real estate. It would be much better to do this idea in conjunction with this Sharp TV/Monitor that was announced a while back: http://news.cnet.co.uk/monitors/0,39029684,3919085 1,00.htm
That way each user gets the full monitor but can be using the two operating systems completely separately. That way you get the same physical real estate being taken up and don't have to buy two completely different machines. Still, I don't think the idea in general is overly practical. Can you imagine sharing your cubicle with Bob the slob working right next to you all day every day?
"To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield." - Tennyson
Can the two OS's crash into eachother?
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.
So, listen, we've really been working on a solution to customer complaints about the high cost of Vista licensing. So, here it is: we'll help you to afford licenses by keeping them at the same price, but offering technology that will allow you to share a computer and the screen so you can afford the licenses.
Not having a computer for every employee should make Vista financially feasible for your organization. Plus, you get to participate in the Microsoft Buddy System, Or Binary User Licensing and Limited Software/Hardware Integration Team (BULLSHIT), and you get a MS Dubloon (redeemable for t-shirts and pens) for every time you report your very close neighbor for piracy. We would recommend waiting until he or she goes on break before reporting illegal activity. They're pretty much looking at your screen the whole time otherwise.
Hey! Where are you all going? You get your own keyboard and mouse!
You young people have it good. When I was a kid, we not only had to share one keyboard, we only had the ONE screen and had to each only use one half, or 40x12 apiece.
Dad always derided our comments by mentioning that when HE was a kid, he had to share a punched card with all seven of his sibling, so they each only got 10 characters.
Grandpa would chime in at this point about only getting to use half the dots on a morse code key, his three sisters got the other half of the dots and all the dashes.
Now if they figure out a way to reduce my ass by half, the person sharing my monitor can also share my chair!
http://twitter.com/OLDTELEGRAM
... micro management.....
Ok so you have this 52" or DLP projector screen and the whole office working off of it.
I can hear it now, as the manager tells Fred to move his cursor faster and Julie to stop slowing the computer down doing company graphics. While leroy on his break can no longer check to see how his stock is doing. Of course Jackson has to work after hours to do accounting as a matter of keeping the company numbers hidden from those who get paid less but do more.....
Michael, That sentence you are writing should be done this way...
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".)
Apart from for Siamese twins, I don't see this being applied.
Spare $$$ on the OS or office-suit; buy an extra monitor.
If you mod this up, your slashdot background will turn into a beautiful sunset!
On the second thought, this would be perfect for extreme programming. Remember, you have to sit close enough to smell each other's farts.
kid1: You got WoW in my screen.
kid2: You got screen in my WoW.
In Soviet Russia, screen splits YOU!
How was he supposed to know it was a dupe, it was on the other half of the screen and since wasn't sharing a keyboard and mouse he didn't think he was supposed to share the screen as well.
Perfect logic.
Exclusive photo. :-)
Finally! Now I can open more than 3 windows simultanely!
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.
will it cover the entire screen or just the half of it?
Wow, this like what my 1993 SparcStation 10 can do. You have a single CPU unit with multiple framebuffers, thus allowing for up to four sets of monitors, keyboards, and mice.
I envision this as the only practical use of this technology; The ability to share a single computer between four office cubes of call-center workers, each with their own monitor, keyboard, and mouse.
And then, you'll need the new, patented, Ballmer chair.
Wide enough to hold two wide butts (or one Ballmer butt)
to sit in front of the monitor.
Free chair throwing license included!
You are being MICROattacked, from various angles, in a SOFT manner.
"Mother's gone too far. She'd put cardboard over her half of the television. We rented "Man Without A Face" - I didn't even know he had a problem!"
Cheers,
IT
Power corrupts. PowerPoint corrupts absolutely.