Many people have cordless phones at home and in the office. Instead of using a tethered phone, a cordless phone allows you the freedom to use the phone anywhere in the house, without the constraints of wires. The same concept applies to computing. How often have you dreamed of using your computers anywhere in your home? A notebook computer is one such solution. However, if your primary computer is a desktop system, synchronizing documents created or modified on the notebook with your desktop is always a chore. It would be better to use the same desktop computer but with the mobility to use it anywhere at home—in the garden, garage, or even the washroom!
Microsoft thought of this concept and calls it the Microsoft Smart Display (previously code-named “Mira”). In this chapter, I explain what a Smart Display is and how you can use it together with your Windows XP computer. I also explain Remote Desktop, the underlying service behind the Smart Display, and how you can use it to connect from one computer to another.
Microsoft defines the Smart Display as a wireless touch-screen monitor that allow you to access your computer from anywhere in your home. Think of it as just your conventional LCD monitor, but with Wi-Fi built in and the ability to write on the screen directly.
On the technical side, a Smart Display uses the Windows CE for Smart Display operating system, a version based on Windows CE .NET 4.1. On the host computer, you need Windows XP Professional Edition (Service Pack 1). This is because the Smart Display makes use of Remote Desktop for displaying the output remotely, which is available in the Windows XP Professional edition but not in the Home edition. This is shown in Figure 10-1.
When you use the Smart Display to connect to the host computer, the host computer will be not be usable; only one user is allowed to use the computer at any one time. This is a limitation that Microsoft says it will resolve in the next version of the Smart Display.