Hey, I'm a member too.

I use multitasking to keep track of what I'm currently doing. Sometimes I open apps or browser windows to new windows even though I do not go to them right away. They're there to remind me to read them later. Especially on a mobile device the use is very sporadic. When I have some time, I go to the task, do what I was supposed to do, then close the task: out of sight, out of mind. It works as a nice "to-do list" in that fashion.

Still I rarely go over 6 windows. I like to keep it as clean as possible, giving the satisfaction that I don't have tons of things that I should be doing.

I'm going to describe my usage pattern here but I predict mine will be quite outside the typical usage patterns compared to most users.

I typically have the following open:

1. Browser (3-4 sites/windows), Opera or Web
2. Conversations (2-3 chat windows)
3. Email (Exchange and Ovi Messaging both set up)
4. Media Player or MediaBox running.
5. When I'm on the road, I've also got the Sygic or Maps up and running as well.

Having said that, the usage I'm describing still falls a bit short for my personal tastes. I actually switched from my (at the time) 4 month old N97 to the N900 specifically to do heavy multitasking. While it's significantly better than the N97 due to greater RAM and the swap, I find that I have to manage my open apps aggressively on the N900 or I'm unable to answer phone calls, which is a big problem in my line of work. Ideally, I would like to be able to have more browser windows open, a podcasting app, and a Twitter client running in the background, and occasionally open an Office/PDF editor to look at email attachments.

Funnily enough, the last device that was able to multitask to my satisfaction was the N95-3 (US version). I loved the fact that I could have Web with 5 windows open, Garmin Mobile XT, Music Player, Podcasting, Mail 4 Exchange, and Fring/Nimbuzz all running simultaneously with nary a hiccup. I could even answer phone calls in time, too!

For those of you that are interested in why such heavy multitasking (all one of you, I'm sure), the main reason has to do with the fact that I travel a decent amount. As any road warrior knows, you tend to have a decent amount of free time, except it's divided into many small increments. You have 5 minutes here, 10 minutes there, etc. So when I'm waiting in line at the airport or seated near the gate, I bring out my phone and pick up where I last left off reading the news, listening to a podcast or music, and chatting with some friends.

Anyways, hope this helps. I apologize if I rambled there for a bit.

Sounds just like me - I always have email and Conversations as the first apps running.

In fact I wish the app windows could be re-arranged in the task view - if email crashes or closes unexpectedly I have been known to close down all other applications just so that I can restart email as the first application, followed by Conversations and then usually Contacts.

4-6 apps for me.

usually four to six when i am using heavily for browsing twitter etc. but when i am done i close all tabs usually not sure if its a reflex or if its from fear that it would hurt performance.

Besides having some apps simultanious open (2x xterm for latest autobuilder inspection and fast program installation) I have these 2 multitasking scenarios which need real multitasking:

1. RSS offline reading and online browsing
   I have several RSS feeds and twitter searches registered in the defaut RSS feed reader. When calling a link from within the reader microb is called. Then I switch back to the RSS reader and continue reading the feeds while let microb render the web page in the background. After a while I return to microb and read the web page.
   
   
2. Simultanious speech navigation and podcast listening
   Listen to a podcast while listening to the navigation system running in the background (and coordinate an incoming phone call or notification as well)

Hope that helps,
asys3

Your priority applications differ from my own, but It is comforting to learn I'm not the only one who will close all open applications just to reopen them in the right order after accidentally closing or otherwise losing one.

Same here. Me too.

Hi Peter. You're my favorite (and probably the only capable) person in the Maemo department at Nokia. How are you?

As to your question... I use multi-tasking pretty often and usually I have around 4-6 apps open at the same time. Most of the time I have open:

- Forenco weather
- Browser (the default one, Firefox sadly sucks)
- Media Player
- Calendar
- Contacts
- Conversations
- Notes

When I focus strictly on web browsing, I open up usually around 5-10 pages/windows and start up the media player to listen to some music. In addition to that, I open also Docs To Go/PDF Reader.

Can I ask you something though, which bothers me a little? Why is Nokia ignoring lately the N900? We need Flash 10.1. We need one more major fw update. The current head of marketing and sales (Mr. Niklas) doesn't really care about us it seems, judging by his behaviour on the recent twitter chat session he had. Nokia needs to be more active in supporting their customers. If it weren't for you, the N900 would have been dead a long time ago. I hope you can help out fellow Maemo buddies

Usually web browser frontpage, mailbox, phone, TweeGo, music player and conversations.

i have only had my N900 for about 5 days, but i am already fkinding that I have at least 5 apps on the dashboard.

They are usually gpodder, media player. a couple of conversations windows, email, a couple of browser windows, some sort of twitter feed (oauth making that fun at the mo), and xterm into my mythtv media centre.
oh, and i am usually signed into gtalk, msn, facebook chat, skype and ovi.

This is one beast of a device, and i haven't tweaked, tuned, or overclocked in any way, and I love it.