Talk:Fast user switching

Untitled
I couldn't verify that FreeBSD didn't introduce this feature (through virtual consoles) before Linux, though that is the way that I remember it. I remember that we used multiple graphical consoles on the (linux based) PC in our flat in approx 1993/4 time period. Mozzerati 16:35, 2004 Sep 12 (UTC)

Lies, damn lies, and ignorance
According to the man page, the su command has been around since Version 1 Unix, which&mdash;according to the Unix article&mdash;was released in 1971. There may have been similar commands for CTSS (1961) and Multics (mid-1960s). This well predates Linux (early 1990s). These commands were not graphical, of course&mdash;you switched from a command-line shell owned by the login user to a command-line shell owned by another user. But it did switch users (in the same way modern systems do it) and it was fast. This should be mentioned in the article&mdash;just because you've only been able to do it for a few years doesn't mean Unix geeks haven't been doing it for 35.&mdash;Kbolino 06:44, 31 January 2006 (UTC)

Howto
I might remove the part which says


 * For installations with older environments, the functionality must be enabled in the configuration file of the X display manager (for example GDM) then a hot key sequence such as CTRL-ALT-F8 is pressed. A separate login window will now appear and the second user can login (or even the first user again). Alternatively, in the default install, new X sessions can be started at will by using different display parameters to have them run in different virtual terminals (e.g. "startx -- :1" or "X :1 -query localhost"). Again, hot key sequences allow the user switching to take place.

since it reads like a howto, not a description. Thoughts? Marnanel 15:51, 9 November 2006 (UTC)
 * That sounds good. It does seem out of place, although I think it may be better to add explanations for Mac OSX and Windows, just because the article is still border-line stub length. Stale Fries 00:41, 18 November 2006 (UTC)

Scope
This page is mixing up "user switching" with "Fast User Switching" (with caps). The former has been around for ages in different forms, including Linux virtual consoles and [screen]. On the other hand "Fast User Switching" as described in body of the article seems to be specifically related to fully graphical desktop environments such as MS Windows and GNOME. Either the scope in the first paragraph needs to be narrowed to relate only to modern graphical desktop environments, or the rest of the article needs to be vastly expanded.

It might also be worth recognising "Fast User Switching" as an ongoing effort by linux distros to catch up with the OS X user experience.

EndlessPossibilities (talk) 17:20, 2 February 2008 (UTC)

I agree that there is an issue with the scope of this article which could be restricted to (main) graphical user interface switching. Non-GUI user switching is possible in several Windows systems as well as *nix systems by running a program as another user (in windows you can do this using 'Run As' from the context menu of a shortcut (when you click it while holding Shift), in *nix you would launch a program as another user using 'su' while keeping/setting the DISPLAY variable to the current display (and allowing that other user to access the X-Display)). — Preceding unsigned comment added by 109.190.39.142 (talk) 08:25, 5 July 2012 (UTC)

Domain network
According to the article, fast user switching is unavailable if the computer is on a "domain network." What does that mean?Unfree (talk) 10:26, 11 February 2008 (UTC) => This means that if the computer is part of a domain (registered to a Windows Domain), then some Windows OS's do not allow "Fast User Switching".

Mac OS
This needs some expanding... — Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.46.162.190 (talk) 21:57, 6 August 2012 (UTC)

404
2.^ Architecture of Fast User Switching - and probably other MSDN links - gone for good  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 85.90.116.114 (talk) 08:20, 22 August 2019 (UTC)