Multitasking & the Dock

Mac OS uses a form of multitasking, which makes it possible for more than one application to be open at the same time. Only one application, however, can be active. You must make an application active to work with it. Other open applications continue running in the background.

Mac OS X uses preemptive multitasking, a type of multitasking in which the operating system can interrupt a currently running task to run another task, as needed.

✓ Tips

  • Mac OS 9 uses cooperative multitasking, a type of multitasking in which a running program can receive processing time only if other programs allow it. Each application must “cooperate” by giving up control of the processor to allow others to run.

  • Mac OS X also features protected ...

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