Metro apps unable to run in the background?

[Dashel]

Huh? What are you expecting it to do that it doesn't?

Seems like my post was pretty specific on that point. Update correctly in the background, which is apparently asking too much. I can't tell you how many times I hit update then flip to another app and when I come back, its sitting back at the waiting to install screen. So I have to watch it until at least the download bars start on the second batch of apps before I can safely navigate away.

My issues aren't with any specific app (or dev), but a clear pattern than has emerged among them, including 1st party ones developed by MS. Regardless of where you want to place blame, the problem is still there. Additionally, the technical handling of background apps/resources is an area MS needs to keep working on and that is clearly their problem.

So much like Vista, you can blame (rightfully in most cases) the hardware vendors for releasing ****ty drivers, but at the end of the day its MS that will take the PR hit. So considering how much ad money they are dumping lately, it simply seems counterproductive to me to play the blame game.

Apple was meticulous about its early apps because they realized how critical that perception would be. MS gives me the impression that it wants to run a walled garden without taking any responsibility for what is inside it.

[SledgeNZ]

Seems like my post was pretty specific on that point. Update correctly in the background, which is apparently asking too much. I can't tell you how many times I hit update then flip to another app and when I come back, its sitting back at the waiting to install screen. So I have to watch it until at least the download bars start on the second batch of apps before I can safely navigate away.

My issues aren't with any specific app, but a clear pattern than has emerged among them, including 1st party ones developed by MS. Regardless of where you want to place blame, the problem is still there. Additionally, the technical handling of background apps/resources is clearly an area MS needs to keep working on and that is clearly their problem.

No it clearly isn't their problem. They have complete support for running app tasks in the background. They have built an ecosystem where it forces the developer to respect power requirements. That is a good thing.

What is bad is the developer of the app you like hasn't implemented this.

This makes them a poor developer and is making you cry wolf over Microsoft when they have obviously put some serious thought into this.

Go cry to the developer as you have no argument with MS.

[Anibal P]

Seems like my post was pretty specific on that point. Update correctly in the background, which is apparently asking too much. I can't tell you how many times I hit update then flip to another app and when I come back, its sitting back at the waiting to install screen. So I have to watch it until at least the download bars start on the second batch of apps before I can safely navigate away.

My issues aren't with any specific app, but a clear pattern than has emerged among them, including 1st party ones developed by MS. Regardless of where you want to place blame, the problem is still there. Additionally, the technical handling of background apps/resources is clearly an area MS needs to keep working on and that is clearly their problem.

So much like Vista, you can blame (rightfully in most cases) the hardware vendors for releasing ****ty drivers, but at the end of the day its MS that will take the PR hit. So considering how much ad money they are dumping lately, it simply seems counterproductive to me to play the blame game.

So it's Microsoft's fault you're impatient? I really want to see how you defend this one

[Dashel]

Impatient? Sledge, since you apparently didn't read my post, Microsoft IS the dev. FFS people.

[SledgeNZ]

Impatient? Sledge, since you apparently didn't read my post, Microsoft IS the dev. FFS people.

You were talking about a third party music app that wasn't working in the background.

With the MS Store, why would it need to work in the background? You aren't looking at it then it should be suspended until you are. It frees up resources and cpu cycles by doing so. If you start downloading apps however and push it to the background then it will continue downloading your apps. See what they've done there? They've made the best use of system resources.

[Eric Veteran]

Seems like my post was pretty specific on that point. Update correctly in the background, which is apparently asking too much. I can't tell you how many times I hit update then flip to another app and when I come back, its sitting back at the waiting to install screen. So I have to watch it until at least the download bars start on the second batch of apps before I can safely navigate away.

My issues aren't with any specific app (or dev), but a clear pattern than has emerged among them, including 1st party ones developed by MS. Regardless of where you want to place blame, the problem is still there. Additionally, the technical handling of background apps/resources is an area MS needs to keep working on and that is clearly their problem.

So much like Vista, you can blame (rightfully in most cases) the hardware vendors for releasing ****ty drivers, but at the end of the day its MS that will take the PR hit. So considering how much ad money they are dumping lately, it simply seems counterproductive to me to play the blame game.

Apple was meticulous about its early apps because they realized how critical that perception would be. MS gives me the impression that it wants to run a walled garden without taking any responsibility for what is inside it.

You have something else wrong, then. Apps update while the Store is in the background just fine for me. They even pop up a notification toast when they're done. They don't (obviously) update if you close the Store app while it's downloading.

[vcfan]

i dont know what that guy is talking about, but i always put my apps to update,and go do something else till theyre done. Its obviously running in the background AND updating. And like GreyWolf said, you get a notification when the updates are done.

[migo]

This is a case of a poorly developed third party app and a user who seems completely unwilling to lay even a fraction of a percentage of the blame at the developer's feet.

OP has already decided this is Microsoft's fault and Microsoft's responsibility. The developer himself could say "Dude, it's my fault, not Microsoft's", and this guy would probably still ignore him.

I'm blaming Microsoft because they're screwing so much up.

Bing Maps website in Canada, no transit directions. American Bing Maps website, transit directions, including for Canadian cities. Fortunately I had a friend who works for Microsoft on the Bing team (search rather than maps), so this one got fixed, but it's utterly absurd.

Windows Phone has no support for Outlook (the program, not Hotmail), while BlackBerry and Android do. You have to sync with Windows Live Mail first, and then you can access your Outlook appointments on Windows Phone. No syncing supported, even though, Windows Mobile did it properly.

No transit directions on Bing Maps for Windows Phone - on the PlayBook, it's there. Windows Phone gets the worst version of Bing Maps. Google pulling support for Maps on Windows phone was just kicking them while they were already down.

The list just goes on, and on, and on. If this were a single problem, yeah, blame the devs. It's not, there are tons of problems, in so many areas. It's Microsoft.

[migo]

Apple was meticulous about its early apps because they realized how critical that perception would be. MS gives me the impression that it wants to run a walled garden without taking any responsibility for what is inside it.

Exactly. And there's a very small selection of Metro apps right now. On iOS or Android, if there's a crap app, you can just find another one and use it instead. On Windows Phone/8 you often don't have that option. It ends up being that the app that offers a particular functionality is the only app that offers that functionality. And if it doesn't do it well, you're screwed.

If MS took an active role in developer support, vetting apps for usability and getting in contact with the devs to improve it before releasing it, everyone would be happy. As is, they apparently just want to play the numbers game, and say "We have X thousand apps in the store after only Y weeks/months!" and are happy to let crap in.