This has been such a non-issue for such a long time, it's dismaying to have it come up again. And again. And again.
Folks, you've always had the ability to manage your own memory, via Settings/Memory/Running Programs, since day 1, or at least since I had a Casio E-10. So all the handwringing about how you don't have that ability is just melodrama, pure and simple. Boo-hoo.
Ohhhh, so actually you're saying that it's not the ability to manage your memory that you're after, what you really want is the 'X' button to close an app, rather than shove it to the background? Uh, OK, so you go and find YourFavoriteTaskManager, install it and you're done. I happen to use WISBar for this -- it works great. It's not free, but there are free ones out there, I'm sure -- at least there used to be.
Now maybe I'm not a "power-user" like some of you out there -- I only run my PIM all the time, every day, usually for weeks on end without needing to reset my PPC -- that plus the occasional trip in and out of Excel, eWallet, StreetAtlas, Oxford Dictionary and other apps. But my setup just works for me, day in and day out. If I want to have several apps open at once (for copy/paste operations between programs), WISBar accomodates that; if I want to shut down an app, WISBar does that too. By the way, I am a very technically minded person, but just because I am doesn't mean that I automatically need to micromanage my PPC's memory. If I need to, I will, but most of the time I just don't want or need that.
I don't expect Microsoft to give me everything out of the box (I'm sure that Lakeridge Software and other task manager vendors don't mind either), so long as alternatives are available, as they are in this case. Honestly, with all of the bitter electrons spilled over this so-called issue, you'd think that Microsoft was setting people's houses on fire or raiding their bank accounts. Give it up, people. Get a task manager and get on with your lives. And let that poor dead horse you've been flogging for so long rest in peace.
In regards to the topic, this is just another example of how Microsoft feels the need to blanket every single person in the world and force each of them to use a product they've developed, their way! It doesn't matter that their are third party applications which does this, the OS should allow this easily if the end user wants this - end of story. We're not talking about some complicated implementation to add, but just to give us the same common sense use that we expect from every other Microsoft product with out feeling like we are a bunch of idiots.
After everything that has happened to the Treo 700w from Verizon, I would of thought having the ability to have users simply be able to close their application easily (without going into the running program list) would of been evident enough and could of lessing the blow of the 700w's short comming with it's memory than it has, but it's obvious that most of the people at Microsoft over the Windows Mobile department spend more time looking at Windows Mobile on paper and what it "should or could" do, than actually using it in real life to come up with their own common sense to conclude otherwise.
Again, another example... Windows ought to have a simple and easy to use built in task manager that can be accessed from any application and from every window if they want to advertise the true multi-tasking - without tapping 7 different times to get back to the application where we were just looking at. Again, use some common sense Microsoft.
I've also been using Zapit forever. I don't know what I'd do if I lost it, because it doesn't seem to be available anywhere now.
I have had a copy for both MIPS (the older Casios and some other devices) and ARM (pretty much everything else, except the early HP Jornadas - I couldn't find an SH3 copy) on my webspace for a few years. It's no longer hosted by the developer, so I thought no harm having it available:
http://www.luthier.ca/other/forum/ZapIt!.zip
And yeah, what they said... I've been harping on this so long, again earlier in the month when that blog post appeared and folks here were discussing it. Such a lot of wasted breath and typing time. Miccrosoft is like the phone company in that old Lily Tomlin bit: "We don't care. We don't have to. We're the phone company." Replace that last with 'we're the biggest software company in the world' and it fits like a glove.
(I've tried a few times, but something in the forum software won't allow the exclamation mark in my link. Just take out the spaces and it's a working link, if anyone needs a copy of ZapIt! - which was named as such, with the punctuation mark, by the author.)
HP iPAQs never had this problem since they come with a decent task manager and a dedicated hardware button called iTask. This is a bit of a shoddy hack from HTC, why don't they bundle a proper task switcher? Its kinda annoying to install Handy Switcher and change a hardware button to get the same functionality.
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Great move by HTC, even if it might put some third party developers out a bit (they'll just have to be creative in solving other problems).
I don't think that is going to be much of an issue. Most utilities that allow you to close an app do much more than that. Note that there really isn't much of an Alt-Tab feature in the OS either. You either have to 'close' repeatedly until you get back to the open app you want, or dig your way to the program menu and 'open' it again. Most closers also support some more direct task switching.
Now if MS changed the Start Menu's recently used programs list to a currently open list...and...provided the option to close apps, that could take a bite out of some third party offerrings.
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Note that there really isn't much of an Alt-Tab feature in the OS either. You either have to 'close' repeatedly until you get back to the open app you want, or dig your way to the program menu and 'open' it again.
Um, well, there's always... Start > Settings > System > Memory > Running Programs > highlight your application > tap Activate. Simple! Now that's a nice, clean, intuitive task switcher... Microsoft style. Of course, most Start Menu shortcuts are easier to find, but it's always nice to have options, just in the name of silliness if nothing else.
This has been such a non-issue for such a long time, it's dismaying to have it come up again. And again. And again.
Folks, you've always had the ability to manage your own memory, via Settings/Memory/Running Programs, since day 1, or at least since I had a Casio E-10. So all the handwringing about how you don't have that ability is just melodrama, pure and simple. Boo-hoo.
Ohhhh, so actually you're saying that it's not the ability to manage your memory that you're after, what you really want is the 'X' button to close an app, rather than shove it to the background? Uh, OK, so you go and find YourFavoriteTaskManager, install it and you're done. I happen to use WISBar for this -- it works great. It's not free, but there are free ones out there, I'm sure -- at least there used to be.
Now maybe I'm not a "power-user" like some of you out there -- I only run my PIM all the time, every day, usually for weeks on end without needing to reset my PPC -- that plus the occasional trip in and out of Excel, eWallet, StreetAtlas, Oxford Dictionary and other apps. But my setup just works for me, day in and day out. If I want to have several apps open at once (for copy/paste operations between programs), WISBar accomodates that; if I want to shut down an app, WISBar does that too. By the way, I am a very technically minded person, but just because I am doesn't mean that I automatically need to micromanage my PPC's memory. If I need to, I will, but most of the time I just don't want or need that.
I don't expect Microsoft to give me everything out of the box (I'm sure that Lakeridge Software and other task manager vendors don't mind either), so long as alternatives are available, as they are in this case. Honestly, with all of the bitter electrons spilled over this so-called issue, you'd think that Microsoft was setting people's houses on fire or raiding their bank accounts. Give it up, people. Get a task manager and get on with your lives. And let that poor dead horse you've been flogging for so long rest in peace.
The built-in method of closing apps is clunky and time-consuming. The various 3rd party solutions I've used all have various downsides such as incompatibility and/or performance problems (I'm a registered user of Wisbar Advanced 2; it doesn't entirely play nice with my rx1955).
However, my complaint isn't really about how X works. It's about how badly WinCE/PPC/WM manages memory and processes; if it was better at that, "X" sending apps to the background wouldn't matter as much.
Sure, if you only use the standard PDA apps you probably won't have any issues. But with media playback and web browsing, I find that I often have to run memrelease to free up memory (and that doesn't always prevent problems).
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Originally Posted by Gerard
Um, well, there's always... Start > Settings > System > Memory > Running Programs > highlight your application > tap Activate. Simple! Now that's a nice, clean, intuitive task switcher... Microsoft style. Of course, most Start Menu shortcuts are easier to find, but it's always nice to have options, just in the name of silliness if nothing else.
I can't tell if you're being sarcastic or serious since it takes so long to use Start > Settings > System > Memory > Running Programs. Even if I'm not running low on memory, navigating to the program manager that way takes 6-8 seconds. That may not sound like a lot, but it's annoying when I just want to quickly look something up. And if I am running low on memory, it takes so long it's sometimes less of a PITA do a soft-reset.
To be fair, I have a button assigned to the Today screen and since HP's Today plugin has a memory icon, it really only takes me a few seconds (when the device hasn't yet run low on memory and slowed to a crawl, that is).
But again the point is that I shouldn't have to do that, and the reason that the strawman argument has some of us "mildy enraged" is that it's only WinCE's horrible memory problems that makes us want to manage memory in the first place.
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Wow. Couldn't detect the sarcasm huh? And that was me pretty close to my most bitter. Thought it was so over the top with sarcasm that even the Redmond gang could detect it, thick-skinned though they may be. Oh well, move along, nothing to see here... just users wanting something logical and complaining when they don't get it. Nothing a megacorporation need worry about.
Wow. Couldn't detect the sarcasm huh? And that was me pretty close to my most bitter. Thought it was so over the top with sarcasm that even the Redmond gang could detect it, thick-skinned though they may be. Oh well, move along, nothing to see here... just users wanting something logical and complaining when they don't get it. Nothing a megacorporation need worry about.
Heh. Ironically, I just recently I replied to someone who I'd assumed was joking around only to find out that their moronic post was actually serious.
It's sad, but with the nonsense that gets posted nowadays, it's not always clear when someone is being clever or being an idiot. It's just another example of why we need more Scorched Earth Party candidates. :mrgreen:
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HP 48s, 200lx, USR Pilot 1k, Palm 3, V, M100, Handspring Visor, Sony N610c, T615c, T655c, HP iPAQ 1910, 2215, Palm T3, HP hx4705, Dell X50v, HP rx1955, Apple iPhone, 3G, 3GS, 4, Samsung Galaxy Nexus
Heh. Ironically, I just recently I replied to someone who I'd assumed was joking around only to find out that their moronic post was actually serious.
Been there, done that, and yes, bought the t-shirt too many times. It can be confusing, when there are no facial expressions to give one clues. Without context - and holy cow, some people haven't the foggiest of clues as to what context is for! - there is sometimes a coin toss involved. I've mis-guessed that toss in most uncomfortable ways...
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