A Small Request: aka My Windows 7 Rant.

[LowTech]

It’s been a while but there’s been another rant brewing inside of me and the top has finally popped.  Today’s rant is brought to you by MS Windows 7 which, BTW, I have never actually used but that is not a good enough reason to stop me.

This is a two-fold matter which, to the best of my knowledge, has not been addressed with the new OS.  The first discussion point would be the lack of dual control of an application(s) or program(s).  For instance take video games, they have dual controllers so that two players can play against or with each other on the same display from the same console yet maintain independent control over their character or whatever.  Some games even featured split screens where each screen is controlled by different players from the same console.  Beyond the gaming benefits there are other practical uses for such a control and display option (I’ll get into that later). 

Having a split screen in Windows is nothing new but independent control of the separate screens by different controllers is the missing ability.  On the other hand from a gaming standpoint why not have the ability to control two players on one screen in an online multiplayer version of one of those shoot ‘em games?  How hard can this be?  With modern quad core CPUs, mega RAM, beefy GPUs and wide screen monitors and TVs the right hardware appears to be readily available.  In other words, give a single PC the ability to act virtually as two machines.  We just need some software support for this.

The second gripe I have is that the new OS is seemingly lacking a 10’ GUI.  Yeah I know, for the average user or business application there is no need but I’m ranting in a home entertainment site that has members who commonly wire up a PC to a TV somewhere in the house.  So when I perform maintenance or other tasks must I either follow the desktop from a standing position in the middle of the living room or use a remote desktop?  Why can’t I stay seated in my recliner and perform these tasks from there?  Certainly it wouldn’t be so code intensive to add a selectable 10’ GUI to the desktop.  I realize that there are work-arounds for the desktop dilemma but that leaves the issue of the web pages as well.  Yes those can be enlarged with the “ctrl +“ but that’s not how I want to do this.  I want a true 10’ GUI for the desktop/surfing experience.  Is that asking too much?  I am thinking beyond just software updates though.

Where this all comes together, in my mind, is how we define a media center computer.  DVR, movie/picture/music library, DVD/CD player, home automation, and anything else one can imagine.  So why not turn our HTPC into a learning center as well?  The use of a PC as home learning portal was unimaginable back in the medieval days when my wife and I attended school (heck they didn’t even have PCs back then).  When little Lowtech Jr. went through school the PC was slowly emerging as a learning tool right about the time he graduated from high school.  Now-a-days children come home and do their homework assignments on a PC as will be the case with our grandchildren when the first one starts school in two short years.  That’s what got me thinking about this.

The trouble with PC based assignments is that the family or child’s PC is often away from where the parent(s) may be spending their time in the house.  While on one hand one could say that the isolation prevents interruptions others say that the seclusion increases the boredom and provides the mind more opportunity to wander.  My wife and I found that our son (only child) would succumb to the boredom and his work reflected that.  When we brought him into the dining room and took an active role in his home assignments his grades improved.  Although it may sound as though we may have been doing his work for him that would be incorrect what we did do, however, is employ techniques described to us by his teachers to maintain his interest in his homework.

So using the HTPC for the kid(s) homework assignment, good idea or no?  Would my requested enhancements be an absolute necessity for a child to use an HTPC as their primary home learning center?  That depends.  Of course my solution is for only one or two children, more than that then you need a plan B.  Without going into more detail the virtual PCs + 10’ GUI ability would be a huge benefit in expanding the role of the HTPC for the purpose I’ve described above, not to mention any additional uses this would bring to those whose imagination takes them there.

Thanks for reading.

[Author]

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