There is the question of whether in a multi document interface to show an empty window when the last document is closed and the question of whether to keep the application running when its last window closes on a single document interface as was the topic of the original discussion.
The majority of multiple document applications on windows choose to close their application when the last item is closed rather than displaying an empty window but all or virtually all choose to die when their last window or tray icon dies.
You said
> On the task bar.
No app on windows displays an indicator on the task bar for an application that has no windows. Doing so would be broken.
In a multi document window like this browser window there is a clear delineation between closing a document by clicking the x on the tabs interface and closing the window by clicking the x on the window. On a single document interface like say a document app as per the original discussion there is only one action in the evident interface the x on the window which ought to have a predictable result.
If one wanted instead reuse the window one would do File->Open or File->New or some such. One may also particularly use File->close on some such resulting in any empty window but this would be awfully odd given that the only way to reuse the window effectively would be to thereafter follow up with file->open or file->new.
The current behavior on windows of closing the window when the last document in a multiple document interface is closed and closing the app when the last window is closed is both standard and appropriate for the windows platform.
> > > Without a global menu where does the app live when the last document closes? [Again, my emphasis -- CRC]
The document-handling apps I have here on my work PC consist mainly of Microsoft Office 2016. Of those, at least Word, Excel, and PowerPoint all behave as I said: When you close the last document, the window reverts to an empty state, ready for you to open another or create a new document. AFAIK this is how they have behaved since Microsoft abandoned the MDI some decades ago, and still do in newer versions. I think (but am not sure) that this is also how other applications, like those in the LibreOffice suite, behave.
Sure, that window doesn't automagically minimize itself to the task bar, but at least I usually minimize it at that point -- don't you; who wants an empty window cluttering up their screen when they don't use it? Anyway, even if you don't minimize it, unless you immediately open or create another document, you presumably switch to another application, and then perhaps another and another, so after a while it's hidden behind other windows anyway -- all you see of it is its task bar icon.
So when you want to switch back to the app, unless you belong to the alt-tab faction, you click its task bar icon to bring it to the foreground again. Even I, who do belong to that (smallish and ever-shrinking, I think) group, often do that, because it's a visible and predictable place to find it. Ergo: When the last document closes, the application "lives" on the task bar.
> The current behavior on windows of closing the window when the last document in a multiple document interface is closed and closing the app when the last window is closed is both standard and appropriate for the windows platform.
On the first, I agree for modern "tabbed" windows; disagree if we're talking about the traditional Multiple Document Interface model ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiple-document_interface ). On the second, yes, of course, but I didn't know that was what we were talking about, because that wasn't what you said.
There is the question of whether in a multi document interface to show an empty window when the last document is closed and the question of whether to keep the application running when its last window closes on a single document interface as was the topic of the original discussion.
The majority of multiple document applications on windows choose to close their application when the last item is closed rather than displaying an empty window but all or virtually all choose to die when their last window or tray icon dies.
You said
> On the task bar.
No app on windows displays an indicator on the task bar for an application that has no windows. Doing so would be broken.
In a multi document window like this browser window there is a clear delineation between closing a document by clicking the x on the tabs interface and closing the window by clicking the x on the window. On a single document interface like say a document app as per the original discussion there is only one action in the evident interface the x on the window which ought to have a predictable result.
If one wanted instead reuse the window one would do File->Open or File->New or some such. One may also particularly use File->close on some such resulting in any empty window but this would be awfully odd given that the only way to reuse the window effectively would be to thereafter follow up with file->open or file->new.
The current behavior on windows of closing the window when the last document in a multiple document interface is closed and closing the app when the last window is closed is both standard and appropriate for the windows platform.