So this is amusing.
Microsoft very politely targets Apple in a commercial (posted below) selling their newly announced Windows 7 OS series. This isn’t us interpreting the commercial, the ad literally screams “we do multitasking, Apple’s iPhone doesn’t”. Clearly that must be the angle Microsoft is pursuing in its attempt to allure customers away from its long time rivals.
Before I continue…watch the ad. Just so you know I’m not exaggerating:
To be 110% sure, Gizmodo raises the question of app multitasking with Joe Belfiore, the director of Windows Phone.
His response:
“The core operating system is a modern multitasking operating system. If you play music for example, the music will play back as you navigate around the experience…if you’re using email, we have great support for push email and that happens in the background.
For third party applications—we’ll get into a lot more detail on this in MIX—but we have a few ways we’re going to make sure that third parties can bring their value to the user even when the app is not running. Live tiles are an example. Data feeds in the hubs are another example for some apps.”
Like Gizmodo, we think that sounds almost identical to what Apple and the iPhone preach. Not true backgrounding but rather various features here and there to let apps provide some levels of functionality despite being switched off.
Just like Windows 7, the iPhone allows its default apps to run in the background. You can play music while browsing Safari. Try to open Spotify and do the same and you’re stuck in Spotify until you want to do something else. If this does turn out to be the case, Android, Meego and the new Symbian OS might be the only way to go for true app multitasking functionality.
Why jumping into conclusions so soon? We'll have to wait (10 months) and see. I hope it has multi task, as previous WinMo versions, otherwise it's a waste.
You are missing the point. What they are promoting is their “hub” concept rather than multitasking. Single process does not mean single task, that's where they're going with this.
Well i'm going based on what the man in charge has said.
This is not the OS that Windows Mobile fans knew. All the reasons why people used the old Windows Mobile have gone, yet it doesn't provide reason to use it rather than Android or iPhone.
He doesn't say much, does he? :)
We'll have to wait for MIX to see what will those third party apps will look like.
The Promo video says Glance in and out of Apps. I'd like to wait and see what's in the final release to see what they mean.
No way – if no multitask then M$ is screwed. Multitaksing is the only reason I would love to try new 7 series.
I guess Symbian has had multitasking capability ten years or so. It is the most mature mobile OS.
The Windows Phone 7 Series hub concept sounds like a widget/gadget framework where applications can somehow post mini-updates/notifications. It's probably akin to Android's Notification pull-down, but with a nicer UI layer. Too bad the iPhone doesn't queue up notifications in a nice UI.
He say plenty. Specifically “For third party applications—we’ll get into a lot more detail on this in MIX—but we have a few ways we’re going to make sure that third parties can bring their value to the user even when the app is not running.”
In other words, no real multitasking for third-party apps.
He's not missing any point. The video is 7 kinds of bullshit.
Apple just announced ACTUAL multi-tasking on the iPhone, not whatever baloney Microsoft is promoting here. Windows phone = total fail, yet again.