Results tagged “multitasking” from The Gameshelf
(Not a game post today, sorry... It's time for Zarf Wibbles About Apple Gadgets.)
What with the blizzard of iPad hype, everyone is talking about "multitasking" and how it is either a crucial tool of the Matrix infoconomy or a hideous, battery-destroying distraction from Getting Crap Done.
Irony shields to maximum, either way.
I just read through an essay, Understanding Multi-tasking on the iPad by Milind Alvares. It is a good overview but I think it oversimplifies to hit its target ("the hell with traditional multitasking", if I may summarize Alvares in five words).
"Multitasking" is a bunch of things, none of which is absolutely crucial, but none of which can be dismissed either. And some of them are stuck together. Let us then list:
- Software multitasking -- can several programs be running at a time?
- App multitasking -- can the user do something that involves several apps?
- User multitasking -- can the user do several things at once?
(The very word "multitasking" begs its question -- what "task" are we talking about, a human's or a computer's? -- but I'm using it for familiarity's (and Google's) sake.)
What do each of these things mean?
