Stay Connected when Minimized

I have played thousands of games that run multiplayer.

This is the only game that I have ever played that automatically disconnects you the moment the game is minimized.

Which can be rather bothersome if you have a huge world, and a rail system designed so that you can go from place to place without keyboard input, and it can take 30 minutes to get there sometimes.  You could browse the internet while you wait if it weren't for getting disconnected.  Answering an IM causes you to get disconnected.  Receiving a Skype Call or some other popup that forces Minecraft to minimize causes you to get disconnected.  Minecraft should stay running and connected while minimized.  Let the server timeouts handle disconnection.