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!

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Researchers are developing software that splits a computer screen in two halves, each side with its own Vista CD-Key, desktop, Office 2007 license, cursor and keyboard. And don't even think about copying music from one side of the screen to the other, you pirate!

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it's like a guiness commerical.

billg: you know how we've forced every computer user in the world to buy a copy of windows for their computer?
steveb: yes
billg: well, i've come up with a way to make them buy TWO copies of windows for each computer!
steveb: brilliant!
billg: brilliant!

Ballmer Chair

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!

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Actually it's more like a scene from the film Brazil [uwaterloo.ca].

I can't believe anyone is taking this idea seriously. Hardware that can run basic office applications is very inexpensive, provided you run a modest operating system. If you can afford to equip one employee with a Windows XP or Vista machine, you can afford to equip at least two people running Linux and Open Office.

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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 [discovery.com]. 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!

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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/ [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

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give them credit where credit is due. The same research facility came up with another similar technology where you can attach multiple (unlimited) mice to a single PC and all operate independently.

Remarkable. I bet no one has ever thought of that before [unisa.edu.au]. This is why Microsoft is so successful. They come up with these ideas first, and then implement basic research prototypes that will likely never appear in any shipping product. By comparison open source and X11 has only managed a complete system that lets you hotplug as many mice and keyboards as like that you can install and have working right now.

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Yes, but with only one set of mouse pointer and keyboard focus.

Uh, no. Watch the demo [youtube.com]. You can have independent focus for each keyboard/mouse set that you care to hotplug in.

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Microsoft Research: The place where computer scientists produce cool ideas and innovations that never get into Microsoft products.

Targeting tech support?

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.

Extreme programming

On the second thought, this would be perfect for extreme programming. Remember, you have to sit close enough to smell each other's farts.

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To be fair, this is Microsoft Research we're talking about. They don't (directly) exist to fill Microsoft's pockets and mostly research problems/ideas broadly related to computer science. Many famous figures in CS work there, including the creators of LaTeX and Quicksort.

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If necessary, a user can move her cursor to the other half of the screen, which opens the door on sharing and collaborating with documents.

You are right there, just point at the screen. There's no need for virtual collaboration when you have physical collaboration. The ONLY time I can see this being a factor is if my colleague, who is having a heart attack, has the number to 911 in their Outlook Address book and I don't.

All it needs...

...is a Hello Kitty theme. I'd gladly suffer it just to piss the other guy off!

Microsoft just needs to innovate

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.

Bill Gates quoted saying:

"that's the dumbest fucking idea I've heard since I've been at Microsoft."

Re:Bill Gates quoted saying:

Is it electric?

Re:Bill Gates quoted saying:

I have a feeling that this would be a new Slashdot Classic. Congratulations for being the first slashdotter to use it!. Now, who wants to start tagging with "dumbestfuckingidea" ?

Too late for April fools!

Two virtual desktops on one screen! What will they think of next?

Re:Too late for April fools!

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

Re:Too late for April fools!

Well they consider the fact that you have to have two keyboards a major issue, and the mouse for the person on the right is a problem as it elbow the guy on the right. TO fix this bombay engineerd have developed a new spoken and written language based on a 13 letter alphabet. Actually they have invented two languages. The first language uses the letters "QWERTYASDFGZXC" and the second language uses the letters "YUIOPGHJKLVBNM". Punctuation is only allowed in one language, and top engineers are still working on a base-5 math curriculum for schools.

In a lab down the hall Microsoft chemists and psychologist are experimenting with drops that can be added to Milk to cause children to develop lefthanded allowing better mousing interaction when one child is lefthanded and one is right.

An unexpected bonus on the 13 letter alphabet was that now the keyboard can be used one handed allowing the griping hand to hold the mouse all the time. Apparently this is fully engaged mouse posture is helping productivity in the telephone sales boiler rooms of calcutta.

Problems have arrisen between children unable to speak each others language, and a caste system is developing in which the left-screeners or "sinisters" are considered unclean.

Re:Too late for April fools!

13 letter alphabet... "QWERTYASDFGZXC"... "YUIOPGHJKLVBNM"...

You forgot to mention that there will have to be a protocol developed for sharing the Y and G keys which appear in both of the fourteen-letter alphabets...

Would work better with this..

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 [cnet.co.uk]

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?

Crash!

Can the two OS's crash into eachother?

Obviously a Microsoft product.

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.....

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.

Excellent.

Now if they figure out a way to reduce my ass by half, the person sharing my monitor can also share my chair!

Its a sure fire win for .....

... 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...

Siamese twins

Apart from for Siamese twins, I don't see this being applied.

Spare $$$ on the OS or office-suit; buy an extra monitor.

Photo: Microsoft's I'm-a-PC-I'm-a-Mac Commercial

Exclusive photo [flickr.com]. :-)

When BSOD hits...

will it cover the entire screen or just the half of it?

Sun SparcStation

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.

Obligatory Skinner

"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