For years and years we’ve been buying new computers with faster and faster processors in an attempt to get to the supposed nirvana of all actions taking place in an instant and never having to wait for anything. Of course that dream died and now we’re frantically adding additional cores to the devices we use which will undoubtedly stop when we have n+1 cores (where n is the number of processes we can run).
Multiple cores don’t, however, make it easier for humans to use computers. My father has a lot of difficulty managing his open windows on Mac OS X (due to being partially sighted) and will probably never work out how to switch applications properly.
There must be another way.
While I think that Apple hasn’t done it 100% right, I do think the future of modern computing devices is going to be in providing good task control. We have to remember that there already is a movement towards single-taking. For example: Writeroom – distraction-free writing software (which was extensively copied for other platforms.).
In watching users at work, it seems that actual tasks are the things people manage to fit into a work day in between checking their email and Facebook status. If you can’t run more than one app, is there an argument that productivity might rise?
Some folk may believe this is Apple Apologism at it’s worst – and they’re partially right. But Writeroom shows there is precedent. I’m excited about the potential for elegant apps which would be cramped on an iPhone but which would be able to flourish on the additional screen space on an iPad. All said, I expect a form of multi-tasking to appear with iPhone OS 4.0 – perhaps a combination hosted service with push/pull – but something nonetheless.
Multitasking as we know it isn’t really about trying to write a blog and do your expenses on a spreadsheet at the same time – its about writing your blog while Tweetdeck pops new tweets on your screen, Mail increments your unread counter in your dock icon, and instant chats pop up as they come in.
But imagine an instant chat session where someone is trying to help you solve a problem – I’ve spent hours online in a Windows environment with a Terminal Services connection open to a bunch of servers, a Browser open Googling ‘symptoms’ and 3 simultaneous instant chats running suggesting fixes. In a realtime environment, where you are dealing with server downtime and every minute counts, multitasking is essential.
However, I wouldn’t expect to use an iPhone or iPad to do this job, so multitasking isnt essential on every device, but it is essential on some devices.
Having said that, I did once connect to a live production server via a laptop and ‘old’ mobile phone from a caravan in Donegal some 8 years ago, and made code edits to web files. You miss the old days sometimes…. 🙂
Hi Colin,
iPhone already does the auto-increment of Mail, the playing of music, the monitoring of incoming calls, texts and push notifications. It can record sound while doing other stuff. It does multi-task – but most of this is not ‘visible’ and wouldn’t necessarily distract. Yes, they have to do something about the way Texts and Push Notifications are handled – that UI is an arse.
There will always be room for Macs/Windows PCs/Linux PCs with multiple massive screens, a dozen cores and terabytes of local storage and maybe the odd Solaris box. But the niche for these, the niche for the situation you described is really, really small. And when you consider that you start to realise how geeks have foisted their ideas of computing onto the rest of the world and, frankly, that’s a really poor fit. It’s like saying the average homeowner should have a garage filled with tools (including jacks and wheel balancer) rather than just having a tool box which fits under the stairs.
I’m keen on iPad but I won’t be throwing away (or giving away) my MacBook any time soon. But when I’m out and about I can see less and less need for carrying the MacBook – considering that it’s been 18 months since I had a ‘technical’ role in any case. But I can see where I might want iSSH on iPad to have an ‘icon’ to pull up a webView and another icon to enable me to send a quick email to someone without losing my session – or I could just set up ‘screen’ like Jared keeps telling me to.
For the future, I reckon we need to stop projecting the needs of the few (geeks) onto the needs of the many (my almost-blind Dad, my technophobic Mum, my impatient Sisters, my brother with a Learning Difficulty, my other brother who only likes playing games on computers). These people don’t need the same computer as me.
The big thing about the iPad will be its speed in handling things. We saw Steve move around Google Maps and Photos. Hell, my 1.8GHz Celeron can’t go that fast! Multitasking is sometimes speed divided by number of tasks — so, slow. Focusing on one app at a time = full bloody speed ahead!