[clue-tech] two monitors - the new fad

[David L. Anselmi]

I guess I didn't say that there are people where I work who monitor the 
system real time and they use 2 monitors (and multiple desktops) so that 
everything they need is at their fingertips.  In fact there is talk 
about moving to 4 monitors per person.

erik at ezolan.com wrote:
> I'd use them for two things. Web development. Have the code on one screen
> and the page open on the other. At a certain point, I'm usually tweaking,
> and it would be nice to just glance and work. Instead of shuffling between
> the text editor and the web browser.

I can see this being useful.  You have 2 screens worth of stuff you want 
to look at for the same "task".

The other replies, "I need 53 different apps visible at the same time" 
might make sense in an interrupt driven, system monitoring type job. 
But for concentration work like programming I think it's just a 
distraction.  When I'm concentrating on my Solaris screen it interrupts 
me when my Windows screen blanks.

I'm sure many people will claim to be more productive when they can see 
everything at once but if they're doing concentration work I don't think 
they appreciate the cost of mental context switches.  Fred Brooks (I 
think) says the same about listening to music while programming.

Dave