Alternative to VB.net ?

[esposito]

Your comparison between the tablet OS'es and DOS are not quite correct. DOS could only run one application at the time, Android and iOS can run several even if they run in fullscreen. I don't see Android coming in on the desktop side in the future but if it did then removing a built in limitation that only exists for battery saving wouldn't be a major alteration of the OS, it would just be another version. Multi-tasking have nothing to do with the ability to put two applications side by side on the screen.

The problem I see lies in the fact that forcing the user to close an app in order to reactivate another one (which is in stand-by mode) is time-consuming and defeats the aim of multi-tasking. In other words, multi-tasking makes sense if I can switch from one app to another with a single click while keeping both apps open. This way, if an app gets updated (for example, if my mailbox receives a message), I realize it in real time, without having to close an app and open another. Only by putting two applications side by side can I take immediate and full advantage of multi-tasking.

Again, why do we need another version of Android for desktop PCs? What's wrong with Linux?

[Joacim Andersson]

In other words, multi-tasking makes sense if I can switch from one app to another with a single click while keeping both apps open. This way, if an app gets updated (for example, if my mailbox receives a message), I realize it in real time, without having to close an app and open another. Only by putting two applications side by side can I take immediate and full advantage of multi-tasking.

You clearly have misunderstood what multitasking is since what you're talking about is the user of the software that does the multitasking and not the computer. The fact that your e-mail client can download an e-mail without you looking at that particular program or that you can listen to music while surfing the web is multitasking.

On my iPad I don't close one application to activate another, I simply do a four finger swipe to switch between two different applications which is analogy similar to pressing Alt+Tab on my Windows laptop.

[esposito]

You clearly have misunderstood what multitasking is since what you're talking about is the user of the software that does the multitasking and not the computer. The fact that your e-mail client can download an e-mail without you looking at that particular program or that you can listen to music while surfing the web is multitasking.

On my iPad I don't close one application to activate another, I simply do a four finger swipe to switch between two different applications which is analogy similar to pressing Alt+Tab on my Windows laptop.

That's the whole point. I want to be able to take advantage of multi-tasking in real time and, in my opinion, the best way to do that is by placing two or more windows side by side. Unfortunately, the full-screen mode which Android and iOS apps are based on prevents me from doing so.

I know that Android and iOS are capable of doing multi-tasking (with some limitations due to battery saving), but having to do a four-finger swipe is not as comfortable as looking at an open window. Even Windows 3.1 was capable of doing some multi-tasking (cooperative, not pre-emptive multi-tasking) but this has very little in common with the enormous flexibility of Win32 that I am used to.