While I agree with you that the lack of multitasking for third-party apps is a serious limitation, one of the scenarios you present is easily solved. A program

While I agree with you that the lack of multitasking for third-party apps is a serious limitation, one of the scenarios you present is easily solved. A program for reading a document can easily keep track of where you leave off. As long as there is persistent storage it is pretty trivial to load back up in the same place. PalmOS devices had many of the same restrictions on multitasking. It was definitely a detraction but many applications coped well with the limitations.