I thought I'd add my thoughts into this. As a long-time user of the N900 running Maemo, I've been very used to multitasking. I used to laugh at my friends who ran iOS that they didn't even have the option to multitask, if they wanted. On my desktop and on my Maemo phone, I've always had: Linux means it's my device, my choice on how to use it. I could multitask the hell out of my phone, if I really wanted, and I accepted that this would hit my battery life. Trying to preserve battery life arbitrarily by blocking multitasking is, IMHO, a huge step backwards and a move towards Apple's terrible smoke-and-mirrors strategy. They used to tout that their devices had miraculous battery life, but this was due to them blocking multitasking - as soon as they dropped in their multitasking framework, their battery life dropped to the same level as everyone else's. To me, Linux is about freedom and not having arbitrary controls inflicted upon the user - this is
one of the reasons that Ubuntu Touch is the first mobile OS to be able to tempt me away from my N900, but to have this restriction "imposed" is extremely disappointing. Now, on the flip side, I can understand why multitasking is disabled, by default - for many users, it's probably the best setting, and also, whilst it's nice to have on Maemo, it being always-on, for every app is also not such an optimal setting.
For my use-case - I SSH onto my home server several times a week, and whilst I'm connected on, I'll flick off to other apps, so whilst I can always reconnect or bring the suspended program to foreground, this is extremely inconvenient. I've installed TweakGeek from the Open Store and allowed the terminal to run in background, and this is perfect and does exactly what I want, but surely it would be a lot better to include this in the base OS, rather than have users need to install an external app to enable this functionality? I would have thought a good option would be to set it up as an app permission/option, but also to have it as a switchable setting, by app and then prompt the user to find out whether they want this turning on or off when the app is installed? This would keep the default as switched off, but allow it to be turned on, if desired - esp as the tweak app shows that it's possible to set up by app.
Please note that the parallel with iOS isn't meant to troll, or be deliberately contentious. I mean this feedback in a constructive way and hope to be able to give a user's perspective that will hopefully help to improve Touch, which I am liking more and more, with every update.
Cheers
Phil
--------------------------------------------
On Thu, 1/10/15, Craig Harper <dexteruk75@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Subject: Re: [Ubuntu-phone] The problem with "no background processing for apps"
To: "Thomas Voß" <thomas.voss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: "Ubuntu Touch" <ubuntu-phone@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Thursday, 1 October, 2015, 13:23
Surly reserving the
right, should be an informed user decision. Could we not
make it easier to choose how we want to run our phones?
Nokia when they launched
the N9, has a locked down linux distro, but once enabling
the developer mode it give you the freedom to do with the
phones as we pleased.
Could we not adopt some similar approach
for 0% resources if you choose a different profile your
applications get different resource available to them,
believe me the terminal on the ubuntu touch is useless, you
cannot do a trace or a ping and switch to a browser without
is suspending or your ssh session timing out.
Surly it would be easier
now, rather than later to build some kind of multitasking
group, that apps a user does not want to switched to 0%
resources can be added to or agreed with so that the app can
continue to run in the background.
Thanks
Craig
On Thu, Oct 1, 2015 at 3:08
PM, Thomas Voß <thomas.voss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
On Thu, Oct 1, 2015 at 1:46 PM, Craig
Harper <dexteruk75@xxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
> I also really thing something should be done about
this, even if you create
> a user override, allowing applications to multitask in
the background. Like
> you give permissions for applications to use the GPS.
Then the battery life
> would be the users choice, personally i was looking for
a Linux machine in
> my pocket that is what got me excited about Ubuntu
Touch, but instead i got
> smoke an mirrors, i use Linux a lot in my life,
computers make our lives
> easier when they are working for us 24/7 not only when
we are looking at the
> screen. Choosing Open Source over closed source is
about freedom, so any
> choice should be based on user choice not some top down
idea, force onto
> everyone.
>
> Lets get this fixed.
>
lp:unity8 and lp:qtmir if you want to start
experimenting with
different lifecycle policies.
All the code is readily available to everyone.
> Linux without Multi Tasking really is not forward
thinking.
>
Oh, we are actually multi-tasking :) we only reserve
the right to
limit resources granted to applications if they are not
visible to the
user.
On the phone, we take an extreme position and execute as in
"0%
resources". That does not mean that we are not
multi-tasking though.
Thomas
> Craig
>
>
>
> On Thu, Oct 1, 2015 at 2:28 PM, Fredrik Andersson
<fredrikfritte@xxxxxxxxx>
> wrote:
>>
>> Dont know if this is all programs, but i wanna be
able to play some music
>> maybe in a browser or music app and be able to
switch to other scopes/apps
>>
>> Den 2015-10-01 kl. 13:25, skrev Alan Bell:
>>>
>>> I quite agree, even if it is a user preference
it would be fine, I would
>>> choose to have multitasking when the screen is
on. I find it rather
>>> frustrating on slow connections to be unable to
background the web browser
>>> to let it load something while I check on other
things.
>>>
>>> Alan.
>>>
>>>
>>
>> --
>> Contact:
>>
>> fredrikfritte@xxxxxxxxx
>> 073-1094843
>>
>>
>>
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>
>
>
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