I'd argue that the desire to have windows side-by-side when multitasking is far more common than to have them be particularly overlapping and hiding one another

I'd argue that the desire to have windows side-by-side when multitasking is far more common than to have them be particularly overlapping and hiding one another. Certainly a lot of what I do on a computer is development, but tiling makes composing emails, image editting, writing, and web browsing less painful too. Floating windows seem to be prioritizing a metaphor over usability.