The merciless task manager: What if every computer worked like an iPhone?
One of the unexpected pleasures of the iPhone (UPDATE 1/27/10: and now the iPad) is that you rarely have to restart it to improve performance no matter how many apps you have. This is because (much to the ire of app makers) only Apple’s native applications (mail, iPod, phone, etc) can run in the background. The third party apps can only run when they’re open.
As I write this blog post on my laptop, I’m listening to “Muddy Waters radio” on Pandora; on my iPhone. If I play Pandora on my laptop, it can get distorted as I open new programs or even as programs I (often unknowingly) run in the background sync with the web. Pandora on my iPhone will only be interrupted if I have a phone call coming in, which is one of the few good reasons to stop the music.
Moreover, it’s great for concentration. As I read using the Instapaper or Kindle app on my iPhone, I’m not interrupted as I have new tweets come in even though I have an excellent Twitter client called Tweetie.
Contrast that to the Blackberry, where you never know what apps are running in the background consuming your resources (luckily there aren’t that many great apps for the Blackberry). Or compare that to any computer! If you’re using Windows, just hit ctrl + atl + delete and see if you can guess what even 10% of those processes do. Programs including even Quickbooks have processes that run all the time in the background from startup unless you go to great lengths to remove them.
What if every computer has a task manager like an iPhone?
Imagine you could only run one app at a time on your computer except for a few essential apps. A computer from 5 years ago could probably outperform a brand new one with such a merciless task manager. Trying to write a memo? No tweets, spoolsv.exe (whatever that is), PowerPoint, web browser, podcast downloads, print manager, etc., running in the background slowing you down and interrupting. Just you and your app. Total consciousness. Which is nice.
