This feels like a step backwards for me, too, and I love overlapping windows and never split my screen. The benefit of having multiple windows is that you can have different working contexts that don't overlap, which makes it easier to find the exact window you're looking for. But look at the screenshots in the article: you still get one web browser window, one calculator, one instance of every app. You can't split (say) the browser into Tabs for Project A and Tabs for Project B, or keep a calculation open for Project B then open a new one without destroying the old one. (Contrived examples, perhaps, but those are the only apps demonstrated in their screenshots so far. Imagine it with text editors.)
I'd imagine that the "one web browser window, one calculator, one instance of every app" is because currently there's not too much need for multiple instances. After a windowing-system is in place, I'd expect (hope?) that Android/developers would begin to add support for multiple instances.
That would be nice, but I'm not holding my breath; the existing code will probably assume one window. We've brought up being told that singletons are bad and should never be used, and then go and build programs like this!
But apps access files, databases, listen for intents. You definitely need some adjustments by app developers, even if Android handles most of the implementation details.
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This feels like a step backwards for me, too, and I love overlapping windows and never split my screen. The benefit of having multiple windows is that you can have different working contexts that don't overlap, which makes it easier to find the exact window you're looking for. But look at the screenshots in the article: you still get one web browser window, one calculator, one instance of every app. You can't split (say) the browser into Tabs for Project A and Tabs for Project B, or keep a calculation open for Project B then open a new one without destroying the old one. (Contrived examples, perhaps, but those are the only apps demonstrated in their screenshots so far. Imagine it with text editors.)
I'd imagine that the "one web browser window, one calculator, one instance of every app" is because currently there's not too much need for multiple instances. After a windowing-system is in place, I'd expect (hope?) that Android/developers would begin to add support for multiple instances.
That would be nice, but I'm not holding my breath; the existing code will probably assume one window. We've brought up being told that singletons are bad and should never be used, and then go and build programs like this!
Just... run several processes of the same app?
But apps access files, databases, listen for intents. You definitely need some adjustments by app developers, even if Android handles most of the implementation details.