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I don't even think they need full multitasking. What they really need is some sort of API that lets you run a tiny cooperative process that can do some simple

I don't even think they need full multitasking. What they really need is some sort of API that lets you run a tiny cooperative process that can do some simple things like keep a socket open or send a push notification to the GUI. Little stuff like that. And then a manager makes sure that none of those co-processes hog resources. Keep app startup times down, which people should be doing anyway, and the rest of the whinging about Multitasking goes away. Supporting quick application shutdown and startup is a better way to make apps in any case.

jws 17y ago
Until the dollar and power cost of RAM is so low it doesn't matter. Then you can forget about those hoops. Though one nice side effect of those hoops is that your app appears to survive a reboot.
- Periodic 17y ago
  I don't think it really has much to do with the total size of your RAM, and more to do with how it ends up getting used. Sure, we can get more RAM so everything we have fits in it, but then everything in the next generation will just use more. It's about guarantees. We want to guarantee that one application bug doesn't bring the whole system to its knees. If that app you downloaded gets into some crazy polling loop and starts hogging all the CPU, making your iPhone run hot and run out of battery in 1 hour, you won't be happy and you won't have a good way to figure out what's going on and fix it.
Periodic 17y ago
Simply having fast app startup times doesn't not solve the problem. For example, very often I will want to quickly check my email or chat session while a page is loading, but if it stops loading that page when I switch applications I don't gain that benefit. I also like to have chat sessions open and get small notifications (usually a sound or on-screen indicator) when I have new messages even if I'm in the middle of reading a large article in my browser. Without background applications, neither of these usage scenarios is viable. It is this sort of usage that sets it apart from a general-purpose computing device and makes it into an appliance for me.

jws 17y ago

Until the dollar and power cost of RAM is so low it doesn't matter. Then you can forget about those hoops. Though one nice side effect of those hoops is that your app appears to survive a reboot.

Periodic 17y ago
I don't think it really has much to do with the total size of your RAM, and more to do with how it ends up getting used. Sure, we can get more RAM so everything we have fits in it, but then everything in the next generation will just use more. It's about guarantees. We want to guarantee that one application bug doesn't bring the whole system to its knees. If that app you downloaded gets into some crazy polling loop and starts hogging all the CPU, making your iPhone run hot and run out of battery in 1 hour, you won't be happy and you won't have a good way to figure out what's going on and fix it.

Periodic 17y ago

Simply having fast app startup times doesn't not solve the problem. For example, very often I will want to quickly check my email or chat session while a page is loading, but if it stops loading that page when I switch applications I don't gain that benefit. I also like to have chat sessions open and get small notifications (usually a sound or on-screen indicator) when I have new messages even if I'm in the middle of reading a large article in my browser. Without background applications, neither of these usage scenarios is viable. It is this sort of usage that sets it apart from a general-purpose computing device and makes it into an appliance for me.