The Building Windows 8 blog published an interesting post this week, one that has been removed in the last hours. It was particularly interesting because it described the use of a multi monitor setup with Windows 8. Just like Apple usually does, MS opens the article with statistics: 85.32% of desktop and 95.64% of laptop users rely on a single monitor, so the rest of people use at least two monitors.
Microsoft takes the percentage and uses it in its favor, also describing how Windows 8 will handle multiple screens. One of the new features has the multi monitor users selecting different desktop backgrounds for each monitor. They can also configure the size/resolution for each of them and even orientation if needed. You can also set a singular wallpaper on multiple monitors for cool effects. In Windows 8, users will also be able to show the taskbar on a second monitor. Also, you can choose how the application icons are shown in the taskbars.
What you see here are features that in the past were provided by this party apps, but are now present out of the box in Win 8. MS has also improved the Metro Start Screen for multi display setups. With the Release Preview you’ll get to display multiple Metro items on two or more monitors. Till now the Start screen and charms only appeared on one monitor, but now you’ll activate gesture corners on all screens. This, now you can show the Start screen and WinRT apps on a monitor of your choice. Charms and app switcher will appear on any of the screens depending on your activation of gesture corners.
And here’s a video that details this idea better:
