Hmm, is it a good thing or a bad thing that the iPhone doesn't support background processing in 3rd party apps. Personally I think it's a good thing, but it is a close one.

Preventing this helps the phone run smoothly and quickly most of the time, unlike most of the smart phones i've had in the past where memory leaks, and no way to kill apps leads to phone to grind to a halt after 7 days if not sooner, i've had some Windows based smart phones grind to a halt twice a day.

Also it leads to programers being more conciensous on how their app works, if it's something you want to go in and out, the last thing you want is a start up screen that takes even a few seconds, it all gets very tedious very quickly.

Preventing poorly designed apps from connecting to the GPS chip or running bad code constantly also helps preserve battery life, just make sure you go back to the menu before putting your phone in standby, just to make sure it's all closed.

Most of the apps i've downloaded all start very quickly and the phone is generally not bogged down for any reason, I think the restriction is good in general.

I can understand why some people would want it but it helps Apple's image having a phone that just "Works".