If you've followed any of the discussions comparing Pocket PC and PalmOS devices, you know that the three topics almost guaranteed to come up are:
- Pocket PC is more like a PC vs PalmOS is easier to use for a handheld
- Pocket PC has better hardware and multimedia vs PalmOS is just as good
- Pocket PC has multitasking vs Handhelds don't need that kind of multitasking
These points will continue to be debated ad infinitum, and to be honest it's a lot of fun! But today I want to give a perspective on the third item that I don't think has really been discussed much.
As you probably know, I recently moved from a Toshiba Pocket PC to a Treo 650, and I really like it. But I found myself wishing it had multitasking like the Pocket PC did. Instead of just stopping there, I decided to think it through a little bit further and was surprised at what I came up with.
So I asked myself, "Why do I miss the multiple applications running like in Pocket PC?" For example, Cobalt is supposed to have true preemptive multithreading/multitasking or whatever you want to call it, which is really not so far off from what a desktop OS might do. And it sounds like with PalmOS for Linux, some of the thread and context limitations from the OS may be lifted also. I suppose that the future of Linux kernel, improvements in the Linux kernel, and better hardware CPU support will allow this to become even more robust. It's necessary, I suppose, to handle things like cell calls while doing wifi and bluetooth, and doing various other background computing for whatever reason. But I'm neither an expert on this, nor am I really all that concerned about learning the details. It's all very interesting to me for a moment when a clear explanation is given, and then someone goes and brings up a new angle and puts me back in my natural state of confusion all over again!
But my point is that we need to follow PalmSource's advice and look at what the user sees and needs on a handheld device. Their argument is that you really don't do two applications at once on the screen anyway. You have an application on the screen, and then you may have various other things happening in threads for a toolbar, an mp3 player, a pop up window activity, etc. If you really go to another application the screen switches, and you really don't need to know whether or not that first application is still runnning or not. You just want to be able to go back to it when you choose to.
Aha! That's the whole problem, isn't it?!
Here's why I say PalmSource may be exactly right about multitasking. They are completely right in this regard -- While we need background processes, we really don't care whether or not we have a bunch of screen-filling applications running at once if we are only using one at a time. In fact, managing what programs are running on Windows Mobile is one of the biggest annoyances leading to a third-party essental utility as an add-on to keep you from throwing the device out the window and hitting your neighbor in the head!
But, somehow, we haven't seen that PalmSource philosophy come through into the user experience. It has become more of a justification for the way PalmOS works than the basis for a good user experience.
Let me describe what I mean by going back to what I miss about Pocket PC. I could (with Wisbar Advance) pop up a task list and easily switch to any running application. So the ones I use back and forth can be switched easily. I didn't care if they continued to run, I just wanted to be able to continue using them. I also liked continuing to use them in the same state that I left them in. Not a problem if they are still running.
So it's not a multitasking issue, it's a user interface issue. And I think both Windows Mobile and PalmOS have kind of blown it so far. I'm sure they will both get better, but Windows Mobile shouldn't require an add-on to easily handle program switching and program closing. It's a headache to the user, and that's what good design is supposed to avoid, right?
And with PalmOS, you shouldn't have the messy program switching that you experience. For example, on my (delightful!) Treo650, if I put an mp3 on pause from RealPlayer and switch to another application, then when I come back my track starts at the beginning again. It remembers my track, but not my position in the track when I paused it. According to what I learned in a programming class for PalmOS, that isn't how it's supposed to work. The user isn't supposed to know that the application had to restart and didn't just keep running. But the problem is that I was inconvenienced by it.
Another example of how the UI can be a bit of a nuisance is when, for example, I'm happily reading something in iSilo. Then I remember something that I need to do. One of the great things about a pda is that when you remember something you can record it right on the spot and forget about it. So I go to the Tasks application to enter my todo item. So far so good. But on PPC, I can then go back to iSilo easily. Not so much because it's still running, but because there's a drop down menu that has it still listed assuming I didn't do something special to force it to close. So on PPC I just tap tap and I'm reading again. But with PalmOS (and no add-on software), I have to go to home, find iSilo and launch it. It might not seem a big deal, but for a core and common sort of action it can be a bit of a nuisance.
Now don't get me wrong... it's not a big deal. It's easily solved for the most part by picking the right apps or adding third party software. And this is not meant to be fodder for people to say "I told you PPC/Palm was garbage!"
But my point is that it's the UI that's the real issue in this Palm vs PPC fight over multitasking, not the technology or philosophy of the OS. I'm pretty sure that both OS's are actually quite capable. And the good news is that the UI is certain to improve quickly in both camps.