That's like looking for a pony that helps you cook.

That's not "active apps" that's "recently used apps". And, yes, it will frequently close apps when you don't want them closed. (My wife now just assumes that her app will close when she attempts to switch tasks.)

See, FirefoxOS and BlackBerry 10 (or even earlier, pre-QNX, versions) to see how task switching is supposed to work.

If that doesn't suite you, try Windows 3.1. It does the job better than Android.

On the contrary. I've even written applications for them. I still miss my iPaq -- slick, and writing apps was a breeze. Also miss my HP-320lx (though that one ran WinCE). I never had a problem with the stylus on either -- and I prefer it to the horribly imprecise world of capacitive touch screens we've got today.

It's a shame the galaxy note runs Android. I do love that stylus.

Sounds like a step in the right direction. Well, Mozilla did get the jump on them there with a universal app package, though it's up to the developers to make sure their UI adapts properly to the device.

Who said anything about that?

Fine. Though I wonder why you don't think that a new idea that no one has considered before is innovative?

It's obviously not "reusing old ideas", so why do you discount it?

You're right, it was the AC. Still, his information is dramatically out-of-date. Why contradict that obvious fact?

And what about the alleged "severe limitations to hardware access" you mention explicitly?

I thought so.

If apple had invented the touch sensitive keyboard and associated gestures, you'd be singing their prases.

I want to do simple things like switch between tasks. I'm not in the minority here. Lots of people want that feature. Think: "Can I deal with this notification and get back to my game?"

Android, obviously, can't handle that. Most of the time, it just closes the other program when you change tasks. There's no warning, and nothing you can do to stop it. It drives my wife crazy. She was spoiled by her old PlayBook, which could not only handle task-switching, but true multitasking.

Me too, which is why I own a BlackBerry. Android, as you know, still requires constant maintenance. Between the malware and other issues, it's no wonder the most popular non-game apps for Android are maintenance programs.

Speak for yourself.

The more "PC" like my mobile devices get, the happier I am. A Surface Pro is far more in-line with the wants and needs of the average user than is a Kindle Fire or an iPad. I would hope that this would extend in mobile phones as well. They're one of the few companies with an offering that could make me give up my BlackBerry.

The computer in my pocket should be a computer. Android, while popular here, can't even handle simple task-switching.

Your information is astonishingly out-of-date.

No innovation? There's nothing else like them in the market.

Just so you know, when Spock used the word 'logical', he was using it incorrectly. Consequently, you are using it incorrectly as well. Please stop.

Back on topic, so you're saying that a persons religious beliefs affect their ability as a developer.

So .. Do Buddhists write better code than Hindus? Are Raeliens better developers than Shintoists? Why or why not?

So you think a persons religious beliefs affect their ability to program.

That's ridiculous. Even more ridiculous is your "reasoning".

Indeed. By introducing abstractions, you exchange performance and flexibility for simplicity (of one kind or another). More than one unmaintainable mess has been made by abstraction-hungry developers layering one leaky abstraction on top of another in a vein attempt to restore some of that flexibility.

This is why I'm a fan of top-down design. It tends to find the right balance almost automatically.

I'm not sure what that has to do with writing "badly formatted code", but I'd still caution against that. Some of the best advice I ever received: "There are no good writers, only good rewriters." I've found this to be true for code as well. It's amazing how much you can improve your code once you've distanced yourself from it a bit.