Open Radar

 
Summary:

Automatic Termination on Mac OS X is far too eager to quit applications. Especially when coupled with Resume, the algorithm fails to take into account common workflows, and is unforgiving of user error.

For example, I just launched QuickTime Player. I had a Finder window open to a folder containing multiple QuickTime movies, and was intending on using QuickTime to play them (instead of my normal app, iTunes). When I last quit QuickTime Player, there was a movie open, so Lion dutifully restored that movie window when I launched QuickTime Player. That wasn't the movie I wanted, so I closed the window and switched back to Finder.

At that point, Lion automatically terminated QuickTime Player. I had to relaunch it so I could drag my movies to its dock icon.

I think Automatic Termination should not behave like a manual termination. In particular, an automatically terminated app should not be removed from the dock. Just like the system will keep an app's windows open even if the app has been automatically terminated, apps that have no windows open should still appear to be running to the user unless the user quits them using the Quit menu item.

Likewise, automatically terminating an application should not remove it from the Cmd-Tab switcher. That switcher should behave like the switcher on iOS, showing recently-used applications regardless of their running status.

The Quit menu item would behave like it does now, removing the app from the Dock (if "Show in Dock" is not enabled) and from the Cmd-Tab switcher.

Steps to Reproduce:

1. Reveal a QuickTime movie in Finder.
2. Open that movie in QuickTime Player.
3. Quit QuickTime Player.
4. Launch QuickTime Player.
5. Close all open QuickTime Player windows.
6. Switch back to the Finder window.

Expected Results:

QuickTime Player stays open and visible in the dock.

Actual Results:

QuickTime Player quits.

Regression:

This common workflow was supported on Snow Leopard and earlier.