Windows 8 gets extended and better support for multiple monitors

Windows 8 will be better optimized for computers with multiple monitors. This is revealed by Microsoft in their latest Windows blog where they show how the new operating system among other things make it easier to move and organise applications, but also customizing different backgrounds.

According to Microsoft’s own user data they have looked at, over 14% of all the users with stationary PCs with Windows is using multiple monitors. The corresponding figure for laptops is up to 5% and, together with customer feedback Microsoft has committed to improve life in a multiple monitor environment with Windows 8.

In an ordinary long and in-deepth blog post Microsoft has now announced some of the many news and optimizations for multiple monitors that will exist in Windows 9. During the development of the operating system Microsoft has put up the four following goals for their multiple monitor support;

• Make the desktop a more personal experience. Perhaps the most personalized feature on the desktop is the ability to customize the desktop background. We set out to make this a great experience on multiple monitors too.
• Improve the efficiency of accessing apps across monitors. In Windows 7, the top request from people using multiple monitors was to improve the taskbar efficiency.
• Improve the efficiency of accessing system UI. In Windows 7, you could only access the Start menu on one monitor. With the introduction in Windows 8 of new UI that puts controls at the edges of the screen, we wanted to make sure that it’s still easy to access Start, the charms, the clock, and your recently used apps from every monitor.
• Allow side-by-side Metro style and desktop apps. You can launch or move a Metro style app to any monitor, side-by-side with desktop apps on another screen.

Among other things Microsoft shows how easy it is to customize your desktop enviroment with different backgrounds for different monitors, or for that matter panorama images that span across several monitors. Also scrolling image galleries is possible to be set specifically for each monitor and at the same time Windows 8 automatically chooses the backgrounds that should to fit each monitors resolution and aspect ratio.

The taskbar will also be better suited for multiple monitors, and apart from being active at all the monitors the user themselves can choose how they want applications to be shown in the taskbar. All the applications in the taskbar, all the applications in the primary taskbar and the monitor that the application is active on, or just the applications in the taskbar that is active on just that monitor that you are working with.

Windows 8 will also be getting better support for starting and moving of Metro designed applications, and navigating with the help of corner shortcuts that up until now has been diffult to manage in the test versions with multiple monitors.

As a user with multiple monitors yours truly looks forward to try out the new improvements in Windows 8, that will be fully introduced in the final version of the operating system.