I've read that the new Windows Phone 7 has only limited
multitasking - or is there none at all?

"We have chosen to only enable a certain number of applications to run in the background…” He’s then asked about multitasking “music, third party music services” and responds “no, Zune music service” and confirms it’s first party (meaning MS) only.
[...]
[ http://mobilitydigest.com/wp7-multit...s-who-you-ask/ ]

"So wurde auf der Konferenz allen anwesenden Entwicklern unmissverständlich gesagt, dass sie davon ausgehen sollen, dass ihre Anwendung geschlossen wird, sobald der Nutzer zu einer anderen App wechselt. "
[ http://winfuture.de/news,54248.html ]

"One of the major issues near and dear to my heart is multitasking, and Microsoft appears to be taking cues from Apple because third-party programs won’t be able to fully run in the background."
[ http://www.intomobile.com/2010/03/18...-multitasking/ ]

"With the announcement that Copy & Paste would be landing on Windows Phone 7 handsets some time in the first half of 2011, with no precise date to focus on
[...]
This new rumor suggests that the update in January will indeed include Copy & Paste, but it will also bring Turn-by-Turn navigation in Bing Maps to Windows Phone 7 devices, as well as multitasking."
[ http://www.slashgear.com/windows-pho...ests-13107791/ ]

N900 way ahead of it's time again?

I don't think we can say that the N900 is ahead of it's time again, here. Windows Mobile had multitasking.

Then Microsoft listened to what Steve Jobs said about multitasking being bad. So Microsoft announced Windows Phone 7- Now Without Multitasking™!

Just what he'd waited for, Steve Jobs immediately announced that he'd reinvented multitasking and IOS was even better than the better before.

So, dragging it's tail between the legs, Microsoft had to go back on the announcement box and say: "There's gonna be Multitasking in WP7. We just, uhm, didn't get it ready in time cause Ste... somebody hadn't told us yet."

Microsoft did a WTF on multitasking in Windows Phone 7, rendering it unattractive to most WM6 users. And then they did a very late 180, so multitasking is supposedly on the way.

I don't think the N900 can take any credit for being early here, though. My previous Windows phone had both multitasking and a working task manager.

Edit: instead, the N900 can take credit for being the best at multitasking.

Yes, that's what I've heard a while ago, too.

Apple reinvented "Mulitasking", so of course the Apple-style of multitasking is now hip among the cool kids. Thanks Steve Jobs!

Us grown-ups can still use Symbian, Maemo, or MeeGo of course.

Cursory examinations without actual insight to the important 'how' and 'why' behind the decisions.

This is what I call entertainment. Lmfao

This is just the latest in the long saga of what MS's R&D department calls "innovation" but what the rest of the world calls "stealing and copying ideas from other people".

When I first read about WP7 not having copy & paste in the initial release I thought WTF they love the iphone so much that they're even copying that (pun unintentional).

I'm just glad that I don't have to deal with MS or Jobs.
I get full multitasking, as many third party apps of -any- sort as I want, and no lock-in. I can use any number of music/ebook/video/whatever and have it work, and even use my n900 as a portable harddisk(bootable, even).
I'm so happy I found the n770 when I was looking for tablets, compared to an Android device like an Archos.

Also with WP7 casual Developers won't be allowed to "multitask" their apps or use certain elements of the UI - you have to be a "Microsoft Partner" to be allowed to do any of that malarky.

Just seen this

This is a throw-back to the days of Psion handhelds and Palm PDAs - these devices would save the current state of the app and then close it when the user "switched" to something else.

This was understandable when memory was small and CPUs were slow (e.g. 64Mb ram and 250mhz CPU).

Apple and Microsoft seem to be determined to reverse the progress made other computer companies.

Then again these kind of restrictions means that components are cheaper but charge a premium price anyway.

A win-win for the company (cheap components and higher profits).

A lose-lose for the consumer (less than premium product but charged premium price).

who has claimed such things?!?

this is at least one of the first nokians to multitask: