Windows 8 to have best multiple monitor support, ever

With Windows, it’s pretty much a breeze to enable decent multi-monitor support, with third-party apps at least. Windows 8 plans to break this trend by including a rich suite of multi-monitor options for users with more than on display.

First up, no more “broken corners”. What this means is that each monitor becomes an independent display. In the accompanying video, Mark Yalovsky, senior program manager of Windows User experience demonstrates the overwhelming ease of accessing each monitor. Charms can be accessed from either monitor and apps run independently on each display.

Apps can also be dragged and dropped from one display to another. Grab the app, and move it across. Looks pretty damn accessible on Windows 8. This drag and drop also works for “snapped” apps (i.e. apps which are docked in the charms bar).

Then there’s mouse targeting on a shared edge. Microsoft has developed a 6×6 pixel preview which pops into view when users hover on a display corner. Yalovsky says that this gives “the confidence of a real corner but not in a way that the user wants to move the cursor to the next monitor.” So no more irritating drag and drop issues. Nice. If the six pixel threshold is broken, the mouse moves to the next display.

Microsoft wants to deliver a “great mouse experience” with Windows 8 and by the looks of this video, user frustration is going to be greatly alleviated.

Other features include individual wallpapers for each monitor and a multi-monitor specific taskbar. Look forward to getting your multiple display groove on come the launch of Windows 8 later this year.