Tuesday, October 31, 2006
HTC Adds Close Button To Its Devices
Posted by Ed Hansberry in "NEWS" @ 10:00 AM
http://www.modaco.com/index.php?showtopic=247978
MoDaCo is reporting that HTC is giving users what they want on their devices, a close button that actually closes applications. I know, sit down and take a breath. Yes, it is shocking that a button with a big "X" on it should actually close an application. 8O
This change will apparently be effective in AKU3.2 and later devices. Users can choose to enable the close feature and have it closed either by a tap or a tap-and-hold. Microsoft has maintained for years that users simply don't need to close applications. They really don't want to, they just want the application to go away, and so MS has refused to enable the close feature short going through the 7 tap process via the Memory control panel icon and close it there. Microsoft insists that the operating system's memory management is sufficient to manage what applications remain open given the devices resources. Many users maintain this isn't good enough as they watch their devices slow to an absolute crawl as low memory situations come up because too many applications are open and the device isn't doing much about it, or worse, the wrong application gets shut down as it is not always a least-recently-used-app-gets-closed decision. For me personally, Pocket IE is the worst offender as it is a memory hog and I've rarely seen my K-Jam shut it down, opting instead to close something I just used a few seconds ago before starting a new application. :evil: Just recently, the Windows Mobile development team defended the practice of not giving users a close button. The defense goes something like this - ok, it goes exactly like this:
Now, Mike is arguing against a strawman and does a pretty effective job of knocking it over. The problem is, I have never heard anyone argue that a user should be required to manage their own memory. We simply want to be allowed to manage our own memory by closing down applications that aren't needed any longer, that are huge resource hogs, or that prevent files from being moved/changed/deleted because some app, like Windows Media Player, is locking it open. What Mike is effectively saying is, you should not be allowed to manage your devices memory and car owners should not be allowed to change their own oil.
Ironically, Microsoft has created confusion here as a number of device manufacturers include the ability to close applications but implement it in different ways, so for a user to close apps, they must figure out first how their particular device does it, if at all. :roll: Hats off to HTC for giving the user what they want! :)
MoDaCo is reporting that HTC is giving users what they want on their devices, a close button that actually closes applications. I know, sit down and take a breath. Yes, it is shocking that a button with a big "X" on it should actually close an application. 8O
This change will apparently be effective in AKU3.2 and later devices. Users can choose to enable the close feature and have it closed either by a tap or a tap-and-hold. Microsoft has maintained for years that users simply don't need to close applications. They really don't want to, they just want the application to go away, and so MS has refused to enable the close feature short going through the 7 tap process via the Memory control panel icon and close it there. Microsoft insists that the operating system's memory management is sufficient to manage what applications remain open given the devices resources. Many users maintain this isn't good enough as they watch their devices slow to an absolute crawl as low memory situations come up because too many applications are open and the device isn't doing much about it, or worse, the wrong application gets shut down as it is not always a least-recently-used-app-gets-closed decision. For me personally, Pocket IE is the worst offender as it is a memory hog and I've rarely seen my K-Jam shut it down, opting instead to close something I just used a few seconds ago before starting a new application. :evil: Just recently, the Windows Mobile development team defended the practice of not giving users a close button. The defense goes something like this - ok, it goes exactly like this:
Quote: The base philosophy, that users shouldn't need to manage their memory, is pretty hard to argue against. Come on, tell me that users should be required to manage their own memory. I dare you. You can tell me that you can do a better job. You can tell me that we don't do a good enough job. You can tell me that in some cases we do a fine job, but in the cases when we don't, the world comes to a screeching halt, time goes backwards, and history is rewritten to be somehow more dark and foreboding than it already is. But you can't tell me that users should be required to manage their own memory. That’s like saying that car owners should be required to change their own oil. I don't think so.
Now, Mike is arguing against a strawman and does a pretty effective job of knocking it over. The problem is, I have never heard anyone argue that a user should be required to manage their own memory. We simply want to be allowed to manage our own memory by closing down applications that aren't needed any longer, that are huge resource hogs, or that prevent files from being moved/changed/deleted because some app, like Windows Media Player, is locking it open. What Mike is effectively saying is, you should not be allowed to manage your devices memory and car owners should not be allowed to change their own oil.
Ironically, Microsoft has created confusion here as a number of device manufacturers include the ability to close applications but implement it in different ways, so for a user to close apps, they must figure out first how their particular device does it, if at all. :roll: Hats off to HTC for giving the user what they want! :)
