I Need Multiple “Windows” to Shed Computer for Tablet

When I sit down with my Toshiba Thrive, or iPad 2 for that matter, I’m constantly reminded of why it simply isn’t possible to ditch my laptop for a tablet. I want to SO BAD, but the experience/productivity just isn’t there right now. One major hindrance is the lack of side-by-side app functionality, or “windows.” Sure, you might think that a 10″ screen is simply too small to split with separate programs, but when you work with numbers like I do, or find yourself constantly flipping back and forth between documents for referencing purposes, the lack of “windows” is kind of a big deal.

But today I stumbled across a potential iPad solution to this problem: Quasar – a window manager. Sure, it’s $9.99, and only available for jailbroken iPads, but it’s definitely a step in the right direction.

Quasar

Why am I posting something about a jailbroken iPad app on AndroidAndMe? BECAUSE I WANT THIS ON MY ANDROID TABLET!!!!

Give me this, and possibly a MS sponsored app for the full version of MS office, and my laptop will hit the trash can.

Source: theBigBoss.org
Via:theVerge.com

5 Comments Join the discussion!

97 SGB101 04/30/12 4:10 AM

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this is great this is, i to work with numbers and this is a issue for me. when i upgraded to ios5 my soft jb was deactivated. i may try this out.

to android, with ics, window/app switching is much better, and HTC sense take this a step further and is great on my new X,

however not only do i want multi windows, i want to run the same app more than once, then id be happy.

Reply
95 Bpear96 04/30/12 4:35 AM

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Well android tablets do have “cornerstone” which is a opensource project that allows for multiple windows to be open on android, its still in development and no retail tablets are using it that i know of. But you can install a custom rom that has it built in (its not a app, has to be in rom)

http://www.onskreen.com/cornerstone/

Reply
- 95 Bpear96 04/30/12 4:36 AM
  
  Thumb up Thumb down 0
  I cant fine a rom with cornerstone for the thrive sadly.. i cant find really any roms for it.. D:
  
  Reply
  - 95 Bpear96 04/30/12 4:38 AM
    
    Thumb up Thumb down 0
    There are a couple “overskreen” apps though like, https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.myboyfriendisageek.airbrowser&hl=en
    
    https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.myboyfriendisageek.aircalc&feature=more_from_developer#?t=W251bGwsMSwxLDEwMiwiY29tLm15Ym95ZnJpZW5kaXNhZ2Vlay5haXJjYWxjIl0.
    
    and https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.myboyfriendisageek.stickit&feature=more_from_developer#?t=W251bGwsMSwxLDEwMiwiY29tLm15Ym95ZnJpZW5kaXNhZ2Vlay5zdGlja2l0Il0.
    
    3 apps that i know of, one is a browser, calculator and video player and they can run in windows over any app check em out :D
    
    Reply
mad scientist jrGuest 11/20/12 12:09 PM

Thumb up Thumb down +1
The funny thing is, take this iPad 2 I’m on, the scren resolution is 1024×768. Hello!
That is plenty of space for multiple Windows! Users have been successfully using this resolution or less for multiple Windows since the original 128k Macintosh (512×342 pixels) came out over a quarter of a century ago!

So evidently Windows 8 continues this trend… even in machines with 20″ screens.
I just don’t get this idea that apps can’t be windowed anymore, forcing them all to be always in full screen mode… this seems like a Steve Jobs philosophy that Microsoft is blindly following. I find I’m *way* more productive with bigger screens and as many windows open as I need.

Hate to say it, but computing has been subjected to a steady devolution since Windows Vista & Office 2007 started obfuscating the interface by destroying basic easy familiar usability features like menu bars (File / Edit / Help / etc.), standard icons/buttons that made it obvious where to click, and moving around basic functionality like the control panel and location of My Documents etc. (what’s with these “Libraries” – terrible idea!)

The proof that this whole movement is terrible becomes immediately evident when you try explaining how to use Windows 7 & Office 2007 to a non-techie parent or grandparent who over the years slowly mastered the “basics” of classic GUI computing and basic apps like Word, WordPad, Outlook Express, etc. They have been able to orient themselves & steadily built on that knowledge mainly due to the basic concepts of the interface not changing. If a new app comes along it still has all the standard menus, etc., making it intuitive to learn. But sometime since Bill Gates left Microsoft and Steve Jobs returned to Apple, and the tech bubble burst, the tech industry lost a crucial part of its common sense. Steve Jobs was a great innovator but by no means should he have the last word on how computers “should” be!

Microsoft even has doen this on the computer programming side, replacing the friendly & relatively easy Visual Basic classic with .NET. The early 1.1 .NET was OK, but this whole system has gotten SO complicated that I can only interpret it as some sort of conspiracy to prevent regular or semi-technical people from being able to write their own software. It’s a fine system if you are used to the C++ side of things, but the truth is, writing applications to do basic tasks on a pc isn’t rocket science, nor does it need to be. This is only a theory, but sometimes I feel like this is class war and elitism designed to return us to the days where the men in white lab coats in the locked room down the hall were the only ones who talked to the computers, when if you needed a computing job done you had to go through them. It’s like the medieval church positioning themselves between the regular people and God, basically a scheme for the Roman empire to kerp their power! There is NO good reason building your own applications shouldn’t be easier than ever using GUI tools and commands that are closer to verbose English than formulas in a Calculus book, etc. I get it about the (perceived) need to do something about spaghetti code, especially for big “Enterprise” apps, but that has as much to do with individual programmer discipline as it does the programming methods. Design Patterns and all the extreme OO methods of building an app like layers of an onion is kind of like creating a huge beauracracy of laws in order to guarantee a safe & just society. Does it work or just gum everything up in red tape? Whether it does or not, the domain of knowledge necessary to write a simple *personal* app on a tablet or PC – just to automate basic repetitive tasks for example – is much much larger than it needs to be, and empowering a person to control their computer to do what they want remains as elusive now as it was back in the days of the mainframe. At least in the late 70s & 80s, home computers came with built-in BASIC programming language and the complete instructions fit inside a simple book. Can we do better in this sense? Of course. I’ve been a programmer for 30 years, and know from whence I speak.

But back to the one-Window interface for Metro/Modern – this madness may actually be the final straw for me and Microsoft!

Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

97 SGB101 04/30/12 4:10 AM

Thumb up Thumb down 0

this is great this is, i to work with numbers and this is a issue for me. when i upgraded to ios5 my soft jb was deactivated. i may try this out.

to android, with ics, window/app switching is much better, and HTC sense take this a step further and is great on my new X,

however not only do i want multi windows, i want to run the same app more than once, then id be happy.

95 Bpear96 04/30/12 4:35 AM

Thumb up Thumb down +1

Well android tablets do have “cornerstone” which is a opensource project that allows for multiple windows to be open on android, its still in development and no retail tablets are using it that i know of. But you can install a custom rom that has it built in (its not a app, has to be in rom)

http://www.onskreen.com/cornerstone/

95 Bpear96 04/30/12 4:36 AM

Thumb up Thumb down 0
I cant fine a rom with cornerstone for the thrive sadly.. i cant find really any roms for it.. D:

- 95 Bpear96 04/30/12 4:38 AM
  
  Thumb up Thumb down 0
  There are a couple “overskreen” apps though like, https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.myboyfriendisageek.airbrowser&hl=en
  
  https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.myboyfriendisageek.aircalc&feature=more_from_developer#?t=W251bGwsMSwxLDEwMiwiY29tLm15Ym95ZnJpZW5kaXNhZ2Vlay5haXJjYWxjIl0.
  
  and https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.myboyfriendisageek.stickit&feature=more_from_developer#?t=W251bGwsMSwxLDEwMiwiY29tLm15Ym95ZnJpZW5kaXNhZ2Vlay5zdGlja2l0Il0.
  
  3 apps that i know of, one is a browser, calculator and video player and they can run in windows over any app check em out :D

mad scientist jrGuest 11/20/12 12:09 PM

The funny thing is, take this iPad 2 I’m on, the scren resolution is 1024×768. Hello!
That is plenty of space for multiple Windows! Users have been successfully using this resolution or less for multiple Windows since the original 128k Macintosh (512×342 pixels) came out over a quarter of a century ago!

So evidently Windows 8 continues this trend… even in machines with 20″ screens.
I just don’t get this idea that apps can’t be windowed anymore, forcing them all to be always in full screen mode… this seems like a Steve Jobs philosophy that Microsoft is blindly following. I find I’m *way* more productive with bigger screens and as many windows open as I need.

Hate to say it, but computing has been subjected to a steady devolution since Windows Vista & Office 2007 started obfuscating the interface by destroying basic easy familiar usability features like menu bars (File / Edit / Help / etc.), standard icons/buttons that made it obvious where to click, and moving around basic functionality like the control panel and location of My Documents etc. (what’s with these “Libraries” – terrible idea!)

The proof that this whole movement is terrible becomes immediately evident when you try explaining how to use Windows 7 & Office 2007 to a non-techie parent or grandparent who over the years slowly mastered the “basics” of classic GUI computing and basic apps like Word, WordPad, Outlook Express, etc. They have been able to orient themselves & steadily built on that knowledge mainly due to the basic concepts of the interface not changing. If a new app comes along it still has all the standard menus, etc., making it intuitive to learn. But sometime since Bill Gates left Microsoft and Steve Jobs returned to Apple, and the tech bubble burst, the tech industry lost a crucial part of its common sense. Steve Jobs was a great innovator but by no means should he have the last word on how computers “should” be!

Microsoft even has doen this on the computer programming side, replacing the friendly & relatively easy Visual Basic classic with .NET. The early 1.1 .NET was OK, but this whole system has gotten SO complicated that I can only interpret it as some sort of conspiracy to prevent regular or semi-technical people from being able to write their own software. It’s a fine system if you are used to the C++ side of things, but the truth is, writing applications to do basic tasks on a pc isn’t rocket science, nor does it need to be. This is only a theory, but sometimes I feel like this is class war and elitism designed to return us to the days where the men in white lab coats in the locked room down the hall were the only ones who talked to the computers, when if you needed a computing job done you had to go through them. It’s like the medieval church positioning themselves between the regular people and God, basically a scheme for the Roman empire to kerp their power! There is NO good reason building your own applications shouldn’t be easier than ever using GUI tools and commands that are closer to verbose English than formulas in a Calculus book, etc. I get it about the (perceived) need to do something about spaghetti code, especially for big “Enterprise” apps, but that has as much to do with individual programmer discipline as it does the programming methods. Design Patterns and all the extreme OO methods of building an app like layers of an onion is kind of like creating a huge beauracracy of laws in order to guarantee a safe & just society. Does it work or just gum everything up in red tape? Whether it does or not, the domain of knowledge necessary to write a simple *personal* app on a tablet or PC – just to automate basic repetitive tasks for example – is much much larger than it needs to be, and empowering a person to control their computer to do what they want remains as elusive now as it was back in the days of the mainframe. At least in the late 70s & 80s, home computers came with built-in BASIC programming language and the complete instructions fit inside a simple book. Can we do better in this sense? Of course. I’ve been a programmer for 30 years, and know from whence I speak.

But back to the one-Window interface for Metro/Modern – this madness may actually be the final straw for me and Microsoft!

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I Need Multiple “Windows” to Shed Computer for Tablet