Sharing a computer doesn't have to mean sharing a computer.
Microsoft is working on a new product, due out next year, that will let multiple students work independently and simultaneously off a single PC.
Although each student will have their own mouse, keyboard and screen--and be able to work on their own application--the computation will be done by a single PC running a new version of Microsoft's Windows Server operating system. The new product is being dubbed Windows Multipoint Server 2010.
“Over the past few years, we at Microsoft have been exploring the area of shared resource computing–a new computing category that allows a customer to tap into a computer’s excess capability to let a single computer support multiple users simultaneously,” Multipoint Server General Manager Ira Snyder said in a blog posting. “In the world of education, shared resource computing has great potential to extend the reach and utilization of affordable computing for students.”
The approach is similar to one taken by NComputing, a start-up run by former e-Machines CEO Stephen Dukker. Will Poole, the former Windows executive who also led Microsoft’s emerging markets efforts for a time, serves as NComputing’s co-chairman. NComputing sells Windows and Linux-based systems to both schools and businesses.
Multipoint Server can handle up to 10 different set-ups, each with their own keyboard, mouse, and monitor. The product is based on the latest server OS–Windows Server 2008 R2. Systems running the new software will be built by computer makers, who will then offer them to schools in the U.S. and across the globe.
The product shares a name–but is separate–from an existing MultiPoint product that allows students to each have their own mouse and work off a single display. (Note that the story I link to has Poole–then at Microsoft–talking about the MultiPoint mouse.)
Microsoft hasn’t said what it will charge for the product, but on the software side, Multipoint-based systems require a license for the server and then a client access license for each set-up that is connected to it.
For now, Microsoft says it’s aiming the product only at the education market.
Source : http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-10396488-56.html?tag=newsEditorsPicksArea.0
Microsoft is working on a new product, due out next year, that will let multiple students work independently and simultaneously off a single PC.
Although each student will have their own mouse, keyboard and screen--and be able to work on their own application--the computation will be done by a single PC running a new version of Microsoft's Windows Server operating system. The new product is being dubbed Windows Multipoint Server 2010.
“Over the past few years, we at Microsoft have been exploring the area of shared resource computing–a new computing category that allows a customer to tap into a computer’s excess capability to let a single computer support multiple users simultaneously,” Multipoint Server General Manager Ira Snyder said in a blog posting. “In the world of education, shared resource computing has great potential to extend the reach and utilization of affordable computing for students.”
The approach is similar to one taken by NComputing, a start-up run by former e-Machines CEO Stephen Dukker. Will Poole, the former Windows executive who also led Microsoft’s emerging markets efforts for a time, serves as NComputing’s co-chairman. NComputing sells Windows and Linux-based systems to both schools and businesses.
Multipoint Server can handle up to 10 different set-ups, each with their own keyboard, mouse, and monitor. The product is based on the latest server OS–Windows Server 2008 R2. Systems running the new software will be built by computer makers, who will then offer them to schools in the U.S. and across the globe.
The product shares a name–but is separate–from an existing MultiPoint product that allows students to each have their own mouse and work off a single display. (Note that the story I link to has Poole–then at Microsoft–talking about the MultiPoint mouse.)
Microsoft hasn’t said what it will charge for the product, but on the software side, Multipoint-based systems require a license for the server and then a client access license for each set-up that is connected to it.
For now, Microsoft says it’s aiming the product only at the education market.
Source : http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-10396488-56.html?tag=newsEditorsPicksArea.0