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Do Developers Really Need a Second Monitor?

Posted by Soulskill on from the give-me-pixels-or-give-me-death dept.

jammag writes "It was an agonizing moment: a developer arrived at work to realize his second monitor had been taken (given to the accounting dept., to add insult to injury). Soon, the wailing and the gnashing of teeth began. As this project manager recounts, developers feel strongly — very strongly — about needing a second monitor (maybe a third?) to work effectively. But is this just the posturing of pampered coders, or is this much screen real estate really a requirement for today's developers?"

2 of 1,002 comments (clear)

  1. Virtual Desktops by sd.fhasldff · · Score: 4, Interesting

    My opinion is this is largely a consequence of how the Maximize functionality works / has worked.

    My money is on the complete lack of virtual desktops on Microsoft's platform.

    Yes, there are third party apps that add the capability, but I don't know a single Windows developer who uses them. On the other hand, I don't know a single Linux developer who DOESN'T use them... (now watch Slashdot provide countless counter examples).

    Developing on a system without virtual desktops *or* a second (at least) monitor is a huge pain in the ass.

  2. Re:Well by SomePgmr · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Whoa... for 120k/yr I'd write everything in stone with a chisel if they wanted.