Microsoft Talks Multi-Monitor Support in Windows 8

[Bloob]

[citation][nom]Kai Last of the Brunnen-G[/nom] (the Windows key just re-launches Metro and drops you out of what you were doing).[/citation]
Umm, yeah, just like the start menu. Sure, the start menu isn't full screen, but the functionality is exactly the same. I actually had to scroll / search far less in metro than in start menu, and search was much faster.

*HIDING BASIC FUNCTIONS* such as shutdown and reboot

I have to agree here, don't know why put them under settings. Then again, you can put the computer to sleep / shut it down by pressing the physical power button.

 

[alextheblue]

[citation][nom]Jarmo[/nom]Nice. I was half expecting they'd have removed the capability "because only 10%" use multiple monitors, but then "no worries" made it available for those who need the capability, as an inexpensive DLC.[/citation]Yeah, except they don't have to pay licensing fees for this. They DO have to pay money to allow out-of-the-box DVD playback, on a per-license basis. Plus they know people can just download third-party freeware players that will handle DVDs. So you can put your torch and pitchfork away.

 

[CaedenV]

[citation][nom]Bloob[/nom]Umm, yeah, just like the start menu. Sure, the start menu isn't full screen, but the functionality is exactly the same. I actually had to scroll / search far less in metro than in start menu, and search was much faster.I have to agree here, don't know why put them under settings. Then again, you can put the computer to sleep / shut it down by pressing the physical power button.[/citation]
How often do you do the 'start, shutdown/sleep' feature anymore? I set up power management to sleep when I close my case on my netbooks and laptop, and sleep after 45min on the desktop (long enough to watch an ep of something undisturbed). The feature is hidden because it is not used anymore, and win8 is not meant to be turned off. In fact, there is no 'off' setting anymore. Shut down merely hibernates the machine, sleep suspends to ram, and reset just boots the system again. There is no 'off' in the future, so there is little need for an 'off' option.
I also rather enjoyed the start screen a bit more than the old start button. Sure it is ugly and poorly categorized upon the initial setup, but after moving things around a bit, it was easily navigateable, and generally more useful (meaning I was able to use it for less amounts of time to do with it what I wanted to do) than the start menu ever was. I am done with CP at the moment, and cannot wait for RP to try it out again. I will not be moving over on my desktop, or traditional netbook; but my touch screen netbook is looking more and more like a win8 machine... if only they could lower the minimum res requirement for metro apps.... which I NEVER use... nevermind, win8 will be just fine for that machine.

 

[beardguy]

I'm starting to think Windows 8 is going to be awesome. Guess we will have to wait for final release and see. Check youtube for some good videos of using metro UI and other features with a mouse/keyboard. It looks very streamlined to me.

If nothing else, I would bet money that even if this isn't a huge hit, it's not going to be an ME or Vista type fail.

 

[Guest]

Just installed Windows 8 RTM Enterprise Evaluation.

PC with three monitors and only two work. The third works initially, but as soon as you make any changes, e.g. joining a domain, you're forced back to two monitors and the third cannot be detected. PC uses two ATi Radeon 4870x2 cards.

Win8 is perfectly fine for the triviastation market it is aimed at. It works well and is ok to use on such devices. If you're a serious IT Pro, designer or engineer, stick with Windows 7.

Oh dear. Looks like Windows 7 remains the best option for multi-monitor workstations. Win8 is obviously purely intended for small single-screen touch devices no matter how much MS claims otherwise.

I'll happily use Win8 on my laptop, my tablet and my phone, but it is banished from my serious work kit, a desktop PC workstation. I'm a software developer using MS technologies almost exclusively and they've forgotten about/ chosen to ignore my species. Oops!

Since you can only develop software for Win8 on Win8 I'll be one of I suspect the majority of professional developers who'll be sticking with Windows 7 and concentrating on device and browser agnostic web apps rather than developing trinkets for the MS Win8 Store. Nice home goal Mr Microsoft! :-(