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- By the end of 2026, how useful do you think agentic/multi-agent AI systems will actually be in your daily work or personal projects? Posted on March 11th, 2026 | 11958 votes
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- By the end of 2026, how useful do you think agentic/multi-agent AI systems will actually be in your daily work or personal projects? Posted on March 11th, 2026 | 40 comments
missing option (Score:5, Funny)
You insensitive clod!
I haven't got a computer or a monitor.
I had to fill out a fax and return form for this comment!
Re:missing option (Score:5, Funny)
You were lucky to have a fax machine. I had to figure out the contents of the page using the blinkenlights on the modem, and then put in a response with a Morse code key I'd built out of used cereal packets.
Re:missing option (Score:5, Funny)
Re:missing option (Score:5, Funny)
Re:missing option (Score:5, Funny)
Luxury. You're lucky you were allowed to swim. We had to walk on the bottom of the ocean to get there.
Re:missing option (Score:5, Funny)
Re:missing option (Score:5, Funny)
Re: (Score:2, Funny)
Re:missing option (Score:4, Funny)
Re:missing option (Score:5, Funny)
Re:missing option (Score:5, Funny)
Re:missing option (Score:5, Funny)
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Re:missing option (Score:5, Funny)
Don't you mean SERIAL packets?
Re:missing option (Score:5, Interesting)
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Makes me wonder what the jokes will be like in 50 years. "Back in my day, we had to type our posts on a keyboard, and we measured ping times in milliseconds!"
Unless there's more than a ltitle revolution in physics, we're capped at c so 1 millisecond = 150km round trip. Halfway around the earth = ~130ms, unless you want to drill straight through it. So I'm feeling fairly confident we'll be using milliseconds for ping times until we discover Star Trek subspace communication.
So many have started to think this will go on forever, that computers will double in every regard until we have infinite speed and infinite capacity. It can't be true an no matter how long Moor
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
There is the possibility of quantum entanglement. I can't see it becoming used for the internet architecture any time soon but faster than light transfer of information does seem to be possible.
Re:missing option (Score:4, Informative)
Are you sure that quantum entanglement can actually be used to transfer information? Last time I read anything about it it was a curiosity and behaved as if information was being transferred at a speed faster than light, but it wouldn't allow the transfer of arbitrary information.
Re:missing option (Score:5, Informative)
Although quantum entanglement does allow strange things like quantum teleportation and superdense coding (for example, doubling the bandwidth of a classical channel), it does not allow faster than light transfer of information.
Re:missing option (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:missing option (Score:5, Funny)
Those smug, wrinkly bastards.
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
If you go through the core, you can cut it down to under 100 milliseconds.
Re:missing option (Score:5, Funny)
I had to fill out a fax and return form for this comment!
And yet you still got first post... my faith in fax machines has suddenly been revitalized.
Re: (Score:2, Informative)
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
heyheyhey...
if he wanted to think about what he was doing he wouldn't be using a Mac
Re:missing option (Score:4, Funny)
Single computer and single monitor!? (Score:2)
With 31% of you currently voting for single monitor with single computer... I don't know how you survive! 4 monitors and 3 computers here...
Re:Single computer and single monitor!? (Score:5, Funny)
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Single desktop computer with a 24-inch LCD here... I'm quite happy
(I also have a 9-inch netbook, but that's not in my desk)
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
The spic things he's people. Why don't you put down the monitor you stole from Walmart and go back to mexico and count maize or whatever your shitfuck of a country has you do when you're not trying to break into the US.
Dude, relax.
Re:Single computer and single monitor!? (Score:4, Insightful)
Who needs more than one computer at the desk, when you have an ethernet cable?
Convenience (Score:2)
In my case, I always have one Windows computer and one UNIX or Linux computer at my desk.
At work, I manage UNIX / Linux servers in several data centres. All of the productivity applications that I use live in the Windows space.
I've adapted to the point where I primarily use putty and cygwin from the Windows computer. Having said that, when it comes to testing HA or DR solutions, having available hardware within arms reach is invaluable.
At home, I have a Windows computer for gaming and web surfing, and a UNI
Re:Single computer and single monitor!? (Score:4, Informative)
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Now your just making excuses.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Until you maximize one window?
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...I survive by making that single monitor count - 30" of goodness. In college, I used all that area quite heavily. Now I use it mostly for recreation, so I probably wouldn't buy another at this point.
I prefer to keep my computers scattered, rather than all in one location, too. I have my work computer (laptop + 24" display), and I have my personal 17" laptop in a different room.
For that matter, I was using some systems at my office for a while where the setup was 48 computers, 96 video outputs, and 4 monit
Re: (Score:2)
I have, on my far left, a Mac Mini (old-school PPC running OSX) on a 22" Optiquest widescreen. In the center I have 2 more Optiquest 22" widescreens that are attached to my main machine running Gentoo. On the far right, I have Windows XP with yet another 22" Optiquest monitor.
The best part is that I use a single mouse/keyboard via Synergy [sourceforge.net] across all OS's/monitors
Re: (Score:2)
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If all I do is troll slashdot, why would I need more than 1 of each?
Re:Single computer and single monitor!? (Score:4, Interesting)
I have been thinking about getting a cheap 7" USB monitor for tossing SSH terminal windows and the like... We'll see...
Re:Single computer and single monitor!? (Score:4, Informative)
This would help me more than additional displays: http://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=121349 [kde.org]
With something like that, I could switch between stuff quickly AND actually start doing stuff on those windows if needed. You wouldn't need to shove everything off to some desktop. Just click on the windows/tasks (up to 9) related to your bug hunt (or add them to the stack with a different key combo), and then you would be able to switch amongst them quickly. Even if you press the combo for the wrong windows, it's just a split second to get to the right one.
So, while additional displays are nice, better UIs would help too.
Too many OS UIs nowadays are designed for the "naive" user or just to look cool. They don't really speed things up for expert users. And in fact they often get in the way- they are like cutscenes in games that an experienced player keeps having to "click through".
OS UI designers should also add UI features so that expert/trained users can be significantly augmented.
Just look at some of the game UIs - they allow skilled/expert users to perform very many actions per second. No stupid "You look like you are building a base" popup.
In games, if a particular weapon has some sort of fancy animation that plays between you pressing the trigger and the weapon actually firing, it's considered a disadvantage of that weapon, not an advantage.
In contrast so many OS designers seem to like their OSes to have "fancy animations" that play before stuff actually happens.
Re: (Score:2)
Two laptops (Score:3, Insightful)
Two laptops, one external monitor. I usually use the monitor for my netbook and just use the 15" display built into my other laptop. I can obviously also hook it up and switch between the two, but 15" is big enough for the occasional use it gets. The netbook is powerful enough for my everyday usage and web development. I use the other machine for Windows development since the netbook isn't really powerful enough to run a VM comfortably.
And also on my desk I have a 17" laptop that I'm configuring for a CAD engineer, but that probably doesn't count.
My man desk (Score:2)
I built a new desktop in August after using my old one for 7+ years, this thing is blazing fast with its quad core and 9.10.
I've also got a SheevaPlug dev kit that is responsible for downloading torrents and serving up media around the house. It has a 1TB external hard drive plugged into it, sweet little thing.
Then there's the Xbox, which used to be a gaming system, but I softmodded it a few years ago and now it's the awesome beast that is used for everything that I can do on a television.
Sometimes a lapto
31.5" Setup... (Score:2)
On my desk, I run a Macbook Unibody connected to a Matrox TripleHead2Go with 24" 16:9 screens rotated 90 degrees.
In the end, I end up with an effective 31.5" screen, and two document sized screens.
I keep source code on the left, and documentation/web on the right.
VMware! (Score:3, Informative)
Depends what you're testing (Score:2)
Re:Depends what you're testing (Score:5, Funny)
Dual Head KVM (Score:2)
2 21" screens hooked up to a IOGear dual head KVM. CentOS on a new Core i7, Vista on an ex-gaming rig bought from a friend, XP on my old Pentium D, and OSX on a Mac Mini hooked to that.
The second monitor cable for the Mini is reserved for hooking up laptops for dual head work.
More than one desk option missing? (Score:2)
At work I have my own Mac (MBP) with external monitor + another attached to a Linux box but acting as a third screen to the mac (ScreenRecycler/tightVNC). There's two more Linux boxes under the desk.
At home it's similar - the Mac with external monitor, a Linux laptop (Amd64) which usually actus as the 3rd monitor, a recycled laptop (32bit linux) minus it's screen (i.e. original owner smashed it, but the machine still works) + another low power linux box running as a nas (ignoring the other dedicated nas).
So
Less than one computer per desk (Score:5, Funny)
At my computer desk I use a single laptop. At my office I use the same laptop. On my sofa I use the same laptop. When traveling I use the same laptop. On vacation I use the same laptop.
By my count, at my computer desk I use 0.2 computers and 0.2 displays (if you consider them equidistributed). Or 0.75 computers and 0.75 displays (if you weight it by probability distribution).
Re:More than one desk option missing? (Score:5, Funny)
You just reminded me I actually have a projector - totally forgot about it since I moved house a year ago.
Thanks!
A desktop and a laptop.. (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Same here, but I only use my netbook when I'm in windows playing games and don't have easy access to IM/SSH
One Desktop, One Laptop (Score:2)
I used to have just one computer at my desk, with a gigantic 19" CRT. The computer's a bit slow, and the screen has become dim and discoloured in regions. (Degaussing does nothing.)
So, now I bring in my MacBook Pro and use that for anything that doesn't explicitly require Windows. The screen may be shrimpy in comparison, but it's quick and WAY easier on the eyes.
Re: (Score:2)
Unless you are quite broke, you should seriously consider getting a nice large (22-24") LCD. Prices on LCDs have come down way below CRTs ever were (you can get 24" for less than $200 shipped, and 20-22" for around $100 shipped). Connect that to your Macbook Pro with an external keyboard and mouse and you've got a nice setup.
In
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It's for the office. I'm not paying for it, they can.
(And yes, I am quite broke. :/)
Control Room Operations... (Score:2)
Two PCs running SCADA with two monitors each for the control system, and a another PC running the business intranet on WinXP and IE6 (I'm crying quietly inside each day when IE6 loads).
3 computers, 5 displays. Right in front of me.
My PC at home has dual 24" Samsung LCDs.
No one uses KVM switches? Many comps, few monitors (Score:2)
Multi-Multi (Score:2)
I have between 4 and 5 computers (laptop here or at home), each with 2 heads.
I'm kind of behind - many of my clients have multiple computers with 4 heads each.
You can *never* have too much screen real estate!
Two Computers, One Cup (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Two Computers, One Cup (Score:4, Funny)
Two girls, one CPU? [ctrlaltdel-online.com]
What about us server room hermits? (Score:2)
My desk usually has at least 3 monitors on it, one of which is connected to the KVM on a 7 foot 12 post rack sitting next to my desk with no fewer than 6 machines on it.
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Whoops 2 post rack, remind me not to type before coffee...
missing option (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
So, you're that [minervity.com] guy!
Financial Trading floors are "forest of monitors" (Score:2)
Hundreds of traders, each with 4-6 monitors. Thousands of monitors and hardware across a large, open floor. Lots of buttons and widgets and graphs of all colors blinking and flashing.
It's kinda like this (but this isn't my firm): http://www.rodrickbrown.com/docs/images/ubsld1.jpg [rodrickbrown.com]
Synergy (Score:5, Informative)
I use 2 computers with 3 monitors. One machine is my linux desktop driving a pair of monitors. The other computer is my windows laptop driving a 3rd monitor. The windows laptop lets me run all the corporate required windows only programs comfortably. I run synergy [sourceforge.net] across them, so that I use a single keyboard/mouse/cut&paste buffer across both machines. It lets me have all the utility of linux desktop, while still running Outlook and other IT mandated software tools.
From a workflow point of view, the windows machine is often my "communications" gateway -- it runs my email and IM clients, as well as acting as the persistent reference window when working on tasks that spawn multiple virtual desktops. The linux machine is where I do all my real work.
I've been very pleased with how smoothly this works.
Re: (Score:2)
Ahh, here's my option as well.
At work I have three computers; Solaris, Windows, and Ubuntu. The Windows laptop has a second monitor attached. I'm using Synergy to use a single mouse and keyboard for all three systems.
My central monitor is a 19" HP but it's configured at 90*. It gives me a nice long portrait oriented monitor to work where the others are good for looking things up or running more tasks without losing focus on the main task.
At home I have a Mac Powerbook with Synergy to connect to my main Wind
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
does your head hurt little man??
Yes, but mostly just because I'm trying to decypher your ASCII art.
Which desk? (Score:2)
C'mon, let's be specific.
At home, it's one PC and one large display.
At work, it's 2 PCs (one Windows w/ one display, one headless Linux), 2 Laptops (one Macbook, one Windows).
What about (Score:2)
Anyhow, I got a 20" monitor hooked up to a docking station with my laptop, and another 14"(15"?) one hooked up to a KVM. KVM switches rules, I wish I had one that supports video over IP protocol.
KISS (Score:2)
Wow, two displays is actually leading. Sure this is /. but yet a surprisingly popular setup...
As a fan of minimalism it's one for me. And it's a laptop. Keeps the energy footprint down and I can still have as many virtual desktops I want.
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You must not do anything complex. When developing web apps, I use two 24" displays. This allows me to have my code editor, my language documentation, my html/css specs, my web page, my tail'd http log file, and an interactive shell (python or ruby) for testing.
I can't imagine how a person could perform complex tasks effectively if they couldn't glance back and forth between multiple data sources. Cycling through 10 windows with ALT-TAB is enough to derail your train of thought and sabotage your geographic m
Re: (Score:2)
I would have gotten a second monitor a long time ago if I could find a relatively cheap desk to support it. Heck, as it is right now, my single 22" monitor is half an inch wider than the space allocated for it on my desk. Until then though I have Compiz set up to scroll to the next desktop when I mouse past the left or right side of the screen, which takes about as long as glancing at another monitor when you're used to it.
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It using Compiz may be an improved way of switching, but it still interferes with your geographic memory.
I found a desk at Wal-Mart for $60 which has enough room for two 24" monitors. I'm sure if you check there and target and Office Depot and Office Max you'll find something suitable for under a C-note.
Two computers, two monitors... (Score:2)
... and Synergy [sourceforge.net] tying them together so I only need one keyboard and mouse. Freakin' awesome.
1 computer 3 displays (Score:2)
Well it's a laptop docked to two external displays, so the most I'm ever really using at one time is two. But there are still 3 displays on my desk.
Three displays (Score:2)
I'm surprised not very many people use 3 monitors. Maybe the barrier of having to install a 2nd video card is too difficult? I personally have a 3 monitor config at work and home. They really aren't too expensive anymore. It really does help with software development to have one monitor for administration (e-mail, web, calender), one for your IDE of choice, and another for the application your debugging.
GNU Screen beats all (Score:2)
I don't like multiple monitors. I can concentrate on only one at a time anyway. (I heard there's a species called 'females' that can do several things at one time, though. Perhaps they can use multiple monitors.)
I do use this screen [gnu.org] a lot, however.
Not to mention <C-x> <C-3> mode on Emacs.
Re: (Score:2)
<C-x> 3, that is. -.-
.
Which desk? (Score:2)
One display, several computers (Score:2)
and a switcheroo box: click click click
Weird Setup (Score:2)
I have two computers that sort of share the same two monitors:
Main computer has a dual monitor setup, and when I need to use the other computer, I use VNC viewer to view its desktop on one of the main computer's monitors.
I guess it's like a really poor man's KVM switch...
Missing Option? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Widescreen (Score:4, Insightful)
Yeah but two of them would be sweet!
Re: (Score:2)
I used to use two 22" LCD monitors, both 1680x1050. As it turned out, Linux is not very good at this. Every time I wanted to run a game I had to disable the second monitor; then it turns out nvidia is not very good at it either, because my second monitor would fail to detect after doing this, sometimes but not all the time. Eventually I dropped one, since it spent more time just wasting power than doing anything else.
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I use one monitor. Imo, once your screen gets big enough (24" widescreen), the second screen is just a distraction. I used the screen of my portable for one day, then I turned it off. The biggest annoyance was that new windows opened sometimes on the primary and sometimes on the secondary, there was no logic to it. And then maximizing sometimes places them on the wrong monitor, ...
(Disclaimer: using MS XP, at work. At home I use two linux computers on a single 23" widescreen, but the second box is mostly tu
Re: (Score:2)
I run into the same problem with regards to which screen apps open on.
I find the second monitor useful for some tasks, though. I usually keep AIM and IRC open on the second screen so I don't have to alt-tab all the time to keep with the conversations. Or having UML diagrams open while I'm coding on the main display. All my other home machines are server boxes that I either RDP or SSH into, depending on need.
At work, I keep my XP virtual machine open on the second monitor while I do most of my day-to-day wor
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I quite like having my work on the main screen and my mail client on the laptop's built-in screen, so that I can keep half an eye on my inbox whilst I'm doing my thing.
There's something right about having two areas to maximise windows in, somehow.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
I care more about high cost (electricity is very expensive due to environmental and other taxes in my part of the world) than about the environment per se. However, replacing some old 95W CRT monitor with two 35W LCD monitors still saves some power and money... and you have the option to turn one off, when it is not needed.
This said, my setup is two computers on a single (LCD) monitor via KVM switch. In most cases, I access the second c
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Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Yes, but manly contests ("my monitor is larger than yours!" "I have four monitors in my desk") are always fun
Re:Optimum setup (Score:5, Informative)
This is the setup I have -- one Linux computer, for doing my actual job, and one Windows computer, for doing all the crap (email, change request forms etc). Each has their own monitor, and I use Synergy [sourceforge.net] to share a single mouse and keyboard between them.
However, I'd prefer not to need the Windows PC, and just go with dual screen on the Linux one (if I know I won't need the Windows computer for a few days I'll plug it's monitor into the Linux one). With separate computers I can't drag windows from one screen to the other.
At home I have a single PC with a single large wide-screen monitor -- good for movies etc, and still pretty reasonable for coding if I feel like it.
Re:two computers, three displays (Score:4, Informative)
If you're actually logged in with administrative rights for general use (not just to install things), you're doing it wrong.
I am using WinXP right now. Therefore, I am logged in as a limited user. I know the administrator account and password, so if I need to be admin on this computer, I can easily become admin, but generally I do not need to. Being admin all the time on WinXP would be unwise.
The wrong WinXP installation procedure would be: Install, done. The reason this is wrong is because you should not be admin until you need to be. However, most people do this.
The correct WinXP installation procedure is: Log out of limited user (because you are using a limited account for day to day use), log in as administrator, install one or more applications, log out of administrator, log in as limited user again, done.
Vista/Win7 installation procedure (A): Confirm UAC prompt, install, done.
Vista/Win7 installation procedure (B): Turn UAC off, install all applications, turn UAC back on, done.
UAC was designed to make it "safe" to do day-to-day computer use while logged in as Admin. If you're bothered by the UAC prompts, you're doing it wrong (more likely, you were doing it wrong in XP). Look at those installation procedures again: the ones for Vista/Win7 are much simpler and less trouble than the one for WinXP.
Re:two computers, three displays (Score:5, Funny)
Outstanding! Ready for the desktop!
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
I recently upgraded from 2* 1600x1200 into: 1600x1200, 1920x1200, 1600x1200.
The difference is quite nice. I don't feel a huge improvement, but it's a nice improvement. Especially when coding, on each display I have: (1) program running, (2) the code and (3) terminals to control it. When doing gnuplot plots (lots of them) I can see more of them on three displays than on two, and that's nice also.
The annoying thing is that xserver-xorg 7.4 has some xinerama stupid bug (well known and reported), and crashes wh