Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!iuvax!purdue!gatech!uflorida!novavax!suther
From: suther@novavax.UUCP (Scot M. Sutherland)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: Multi-tasking
Message-ID: <1426@novavax.UUCP>
Date: 10 Aug 89 04:59:32 GMT
References: <30339@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU>
Reply-To: suther@novavax.UUCP (Scot M. Sutherland)
Distribution: usa
Organization: Nova University, Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Lines: 42

>Somebody in the ST group stated that multitasking is useless on a home.

It has been mentioned to me that we teachers would never
multi-task. ( I teach Jr. High) :^)

>without trying to start a war I posted that for most Amiga users, Technical
>as well as non-technical (me) I believe multitasking on a home computer has
>become second nature.  For me, it makes sense to be able to run Dpaint III and
>say "oops, I forgot to listen to that new Sonix score!" boot up and run Sonix,
>and say, "oops, I forgot I need to label my disks!", boot up the label program
>and .....:-)!!

I think that war is raging already.  Multitasking for me has
become indispensible.  In fact I have taken it so much for
granted that I sometimes guru my 3 meg A2500 because I get
distracted an forget how many tasks I have running.

I have not seen this discussed before so I throw it out.
Software developers could, and maybe should, take a different
attitude in developing for the Amiga than for other machines.
Amiga desktop publishing programs don't need a separate text
editor when the wise user will use his favorite instead.  I
thought that Micro Illusions might have stumbled upon the idea
that programs can be made in modules for the Amiga, and the
modules sold separately in their Photon series.  However, I still
haven't figured out how to punch Photon Paint into the background
so that I can use what I just created with Photon Cell Animator.

It makes sense to sell Amiga programs in a series of modules that
can be multitasked instead of selling all-in-one packages as is
necessary for other computers.

>Is multi-tasking second nature for most Amiga users?

It certainly is for me.  And I think that it would be for most
users if they become aware that it can be done.  Many people that
use other computers don't really understand what I mean when I
say multi-tasking.

>-Evan

Scot--