> Expunging it from memory with application-level semantics is a potential win because it can theoretically prevent you from ever hitting swap even after using hundreds of apps over the course of weeks or months.
Other than saving some disk space, how is hitting swap to page an unused app back in significantly different from loading the app from memory again?
This is a double-edged sword. On one hand, maybe it has saved you from some memory leaks. On the other hand, maybe it has cleared the infinite undo stack in your 3d modeling program.
Granted, you can always fall back on the argument that if developers support the APIs correctly, this isn't an issue, but that is putting a lot more trust in developers than is warranted based on historical evidence.
IME the Xbox 360/Xbox Live method of just building features into the system always wins out vs the PS3/PSN method of expecting developers to support the available APIs and do the right thing. In that context, I think just allowing virtual memory to do what it has always done is the better way to go.
Other than saving some disk space, how is hitting swap to page an unused app back in significantly different from loading the app from memory again?