I can recall the first time I used a HP UNIX computer at De Montfort University back in 1991. The screens were huge at 21" where for back then both these machines and screens would have cost thousands of pounds. The workstations themselves had a RISC processor and 32mb of ram and a hard drive. Previously I had used a PC with Windows 3, an Atari ST and Apple MAC. All except the atari could run multiple applications concurrently but unless you had enough memory on the PC, like the apple mac it would task switch. This meant the application in the foreground would run and other applications in the background would sit and wait until they were brought to the front to continue processing. Windows had a 386 enhanced mode which would allow mutlitasking and you could set the priority times for dos applications. The HP UNIX boxes at university could multitask properly with all of the applications. I could be compiling, on IRC, doing FTP downloads, emailing and possibly some text editing all together over a 9600 baud link that was shared with several 1000s of computers at the university. Back then I could see the benefit of multitasking and when Psion brought out the 3a I eventually got my first PDA (a psion 3c) and was running many applications at once.
I recently posted on twitter that I run 12 applications concurrently on my phone. I also had to chuckle when I read Engadget where the editor was struggling to do several things on his iphone. Possibly if he had several phones with him he would have been able to accomplish his tasks more easily and quickly.
If I look at my usage I will always focus on the one task and occasionally switch between applications if I know an email has arrived or twitter has updated. But there are times such as when I am using flyingmoney to reconcile my accounts whilst the web browser is open. Or, if I am in the middle of doing something else and I don't want distrurbing then my call handling software will take control - all happening in the background and without the need to close down applications.
Apple's recent idea of using push notifications is good in principle but after hearing that people are stopped in the middle of their current task. They then have to manage the notice, then can carry on. But if they receive for example several messages they have to deal with each one separately whereas I can just ignore them.
There are many reasons why we should not multitask because not focusing on one task makes us unproductive. Reasons not to multitask. I find having the flexibility of being able to do several things together I can still focus on the task at hand and switch as the need dictates.
Mac os used to task switch where background tasks used to stay still until they were brought to the foreground. Whereas windows applications would in a round about way multitask but not really properly until windows 95. Before Windows I also tried Os/2 which was definitely more grown up. As some of you are aware some of this technology underpinned Windows Nt. I also recall seeing a piece of software called Deskview X which would allow you to run concurrent Os way back in the early 90s and I decided back then that this would be useful but was sadly too expensive for me. It is only in the last few years with virtual machine technology that has allowed me to do this properly. I would envisage that we will also will be able to do this on our mobile devices in the near future.
Many commentators have been knocking Nokia for the S60 UI saying it is outdated and not as intuitive or elegant as the iphone. Whilst there is some degree of truth behind this, I do believe that the UI of S60 can and will evolve into something better if not comparable to the iphone. Again symbian the underlying OS like the iphones OS both are very powerful, can multitask if allowed and are very robust. Whilst I would welcome changes in the S60 ui I would hate to see it limit the devices just like the iphone has, to the extent that it was too simple and it reduced the functionality of not being able to multitask. While I understand Apples approach in trying to limit the number of applications running to ensure the consumer experience and battery life are not affected. Should this ever happen to Symbian then I will be moving to another platform.
In a way the current mobile market is like history repeating itself. In the early days the Psion was the technical superior device. Because it did not evolve and change as the consumer wanted colour screens and form factors such as the palm this could contribute to Nokia's and ultimately Symbians stagnation. At this moment in time I will avoid the word downfall as both Nokia and Symbian are larger players in the market than Psion ever was. They are making structural changes to their organisations and to the partnerships for example the Symbian Foundation, Nokia and Intel partnership, Maemo and QT, Open sourcing (not Saucing.) and Horizon for application development. But what we are not seeing are new and innovative devices just rehashes of old technology.
Nokia have always had two major lines of products with E series and N series. These at some point in time may converge but again I would hope to see that any converged devices whilst simple to use, still allow power users to multitask and work with the machines internals and not like the iphone where the walled garden approach is nice to look at but you are not allowed to stray beyond the fence or walk on the grass.
I recently posted on twitter that I run 12 applications concurrently on my phone. I also had to chuckle when I read Engadget where the editor was struggling to do several things on his iphone. Possibly if he had several phones with him he would have been able to accomplish his tasks more easily and quickly.
If I look at my usage I will always focus on the one task and occasionally switch between applications if I know an email has arrived or twitter has updated. But there are times such as when I am using flyingmoney to reconcile my accounts whilst the web browser is open. Or, if I am in the middle of doing something else and I don't want distrurbing then my call handling software will take control - all happening in the background and without the need to close down applications.
Apple's recent idea of using push notifications is good in principle but after hearing that people are stopped in the middle of their current task. They then have to manage the notice, then can carry on. But if they receive for example several messages they have to deal with each one separately whereas I can just ignore them.
There are many reasons why we should not multitask because not focusing on one task makes us unproductive. Reasons not to multitask. I find having the flexibility of being able to do several things together I can still focus on the task at hand and switch as the need dictates.
Mac os used to task switch where background tasks used to stay still until they were brought to the foreground. Whereas windows applications would in a round about way multitask but not really properly until windows 95. Before Windows I also tried Os/2 which was definitely more grown up. As some of you are aware some of this technology underpinned Windows Nt. I also recall seeing a piece of software called Deskview X which would allow you to run concurrent Os way back in the early 90s and I decided back then that this would be useful but was sadly too expensive for me. It is only in the last few years with virtual machine technology that has allowed me to do this properly. I would envisage that we will also will be able to do this on our mobile devices in the near future.
Many commentators have been knocking Nokia for the S60 UI saying it is outdated and not as intuitive or elegant as the iphone. Whilst there is some degree of truth behind this, I do believe that the UI of S60 can and will evolve into something better if not comparable to the iphone. Again symbian the underlying OS like the iphones OS both are very powerful, can multitask if allowed and are very robust. Whilst I would welcome changes in the S60 ui I would hate to see it limit the devices just like the iphone has, to the extent that it was too simple and it reduced the functionality of not being able to multitask. While I understand Apples approach in trying to limit the number of applications running to ensure the consumer experience and battery life are not affected. Should this ever happen to Symbian then I will be moving to another platform.
In a way the current mobile market is like history repeating itself. In the early days the Psion was the technical superior device. Because it did not evolve and change as the consumer wanted colour screens and form factors such as the palm this could contribute to Nokia's and ultimately Symbians stagnation. At this moment in time I will avoid the word downfall as both Nokia and Symbian are larger players in the market than Psion ever was. They are making structural changes to their organisations and to the partnerships for example the Symbian Foundation, Nokia and Intel partnership, Maemo and QT, Open sourcing (not Saucing.) and Horizon for application development. But what we are not seeing are new and innovative devices just rehashes of old technology.
Nokia have always had two major lines of products with E series and N series. These at some point in time may converge but again I would hope to see that any converged devices whilst simple to use, still allow power users to multitask and work with the machines internals and not like the iphone where the walled garden approach is nice to look at but you are not allowed to stray beyond the fence or walk on the grass.
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