14 DAY TRIAL // Undoubtedly, many of you out there are currently running Windows Vista on a dual-monitor setup. But just in case you are still confined to a single monitor, the video embedded at the bottom will give you a taste of what you are missing. The basic hardware to replicate the setup in the video is Dell UltraSharp 2407FP 24-inch monitors and an ATI Radeon X1650 Pro graphics card. This is of course on of the latest efforts from Microsoft to showcase not only Windows Vista but also hardware certified for the operating system.
The Redmond Company sports a consistent amount of effort into pushing its latest platform, but also to educate consumers of the hardware and software environment built around Windows Vista. In this context, certification is designed as a guarantee that a product will seamlessly integrate with the new operating system. Microsoft's certified ecosystem bridges Windows Vista, consumers and software and hardware developers, but with a focus on the operating system. The video provided by Microsoft's Brandon LeBlanc is just another example of the closed certification circle.
"Windows Vista's Display Settings allows you to control both your monitors. You can designate any one of the two monitors as your PC's Primary Display. Using the Identify Monitors button at the top of the Display Settings window you can identify which monitor is 1 and which is monitor 2. When I first connected my second monitor to my PC, it simply mirrored the screen from my first monitor. However, this was not the behavior I wanted. In Display Settings, I clicked on monitor 2 and checked "Extend the desktop to this monitor" to add the second monitor as usable desktop space. With this checked, I was then able to drag apps and use the second monitor's desktop as an extension of my desktop on my Primary Display," LeBlanc revealed.
This not the first stunt that Microsoft has pulled with multiple monitor setup and Windows Vista. In March 2007, Microsoft Program Manager Nick White posted an image of four monitors connected in tandem via NVIDIA SLI technology and dual ATI x1900XTX video cards to a system running Vista.