Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!uflorida!gatech!rutgers!apple!well!farren
From: farren@well.UUCP (Mike Farren)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: Multi-tasking and OS books
Message-ID: <11671@well.UUCP>
Date: 14 May 89 08:02:54 GMT
References: <17148@usc.edu> <24279@agate.BERKELEY.EDU> <18268@cup.portal.com> <17183@usc.edu> <11336@polyslo.CalPoly.EDU>
Reply-To: farren@well.UUCP (Mike Farren)
Organization: Whole Earth 'Lectronic Link, Sausalito, CA
Lines: 19

dorourke@polyslo.CalPoly.EDU (David M. O'Rourke) writes:
>
>  Although pre-emptive multi-tasking is desirerable, no OS book I've ever 
>seen *requires* it.  So multi-finder is multi-tasking.  It allows more
>than one process to be resident, and they will execute.
(And a lot more on preemptive vs. non-preemptive task switching)

The examples you give, though, have one major difference from MultiFinder,
and it is a crucial one.  They all do context switches under control of
the _system_, whereas MF does context switching under control of the
_application_.  If only one application does not allow MF to do its
context switching (like older applications may well), then multitasking
goes out the window, until that application is closed.  I do not find
this to be an acceptable situation.

-- 
           Mike Farren
           uucp: {your favorite backbone site}!hplabs!well!farren
           Fido: Sci-Fido, Fidonode 125/84, (415)655-0667