LaunchBar uses about .1% of the CPU when idle.

yeah I know, but I like having 25 applications open at once when I am doing some heavy work. I need to work in a windows environment as well so I have parallels running constantly. I know hands on that OS X is solid but it ain't bullet proof. I have crashed my Mac a few times since I have had it, and I have 2gigs of RAM in it.

i use quicksilver, google search is ctrl+option+space and macosxhints.com is cmd+m

Depends on the CPU. I'm still running G3 and G4 computers even though I have a Mac Pro. The 3rd party launchers eat up more resources on the older machines.

There's also the question of RAM footprint.

I don't use hundreds, but certainly a few dozen. I've been known to fill the dock space completely (and I keep my dock pretty small). My launcher is part of Keyboard Maestro, a macro program, so it doesn't eat up any more memory than not having it. The macro program is another very important tool for me.

Ditto that. (Except for the Dock part. I don't do Dock. My Dock is banned to /Applications/Crap).

I seldom have a huge batch running simultaneously, but instead of 10-15 apps I run regularly, I've got 40-100 I run regularly. And a good many more I run incidentally. I've run six different versions just of FileMaker Pro this week, for instance!

You're insane!:p

442 LaunchBar 0.1% 1:03.02 4 104 0 0K 0K 34.7M 171M

Okay, I am actually on the fence in this "argument".

Half of me is totally on TLarkin's side...I am not a fan of extra processes running on my computer. One of my submissions to mydreamapp was "osnein" (a slimmed downed version of OS X, OS X minus drop shadows, animated GUIs, etc.). Bloated OSes are a bain on computing.

The other side of me considers LaunchBar an essential application...so I cannot exclude it from my CPU's attention. I only feel effective when I'm using LaunchBar. Not having it feels like I'm wasting my CPU's energy tracking my mouse across the screen. Whenever I'm crunched for time LaunchBar is my right-hard.

When I'm shopping, or just surfing on-line...I tend to use my mouse more.

This entire thread comes down to effectiveness. Some people are more than efficient without an application launcher....others feel hobbled without it. Neither is right or wrong...it's just a manner of operation.



Manual vs. Automatic vs. Triptonic

Thanks, everybody, for your input.

I think that is one of the reasons I never liked Quicksilver. I viewed it from the other perspective. (Some) keyboard shortcuts required me to move my hand from the trackpad. For me the trackpad was far faster than trying to navigate through applications and work flows with the keyboard. The sentence structure of Quicksilver commands felt awkward, like they were adding another cognitive layer to the process. It was logical, but not intuitive. In the end I could accomplish stuff faster with the trackpad.

I use keyboard shortcuts, but with the exception of cmd-i, every one I use can either be easily performed using the left hand (cmd-z, -x, -c, -v, -a, -s, -ctrl-d, -f, -g, -q, -w, -t), or can be performed with the right hand without moving away from the trackpad (cmd-[space], -[,], -[down], -[up], -[left], -[right]). I probably use the bottom row enter key ten times as often as the big return key. I also tend to keep certain windows in specific positions to take maximum advantage of Fitts' Law, to make the trackpad even more effective for my needs.

I would have to completely change the way I use my computer to use Quicksilver effectively. I've adapted a very trackpad-centric style that works very efficiently for me, so that's not really anything I'm interested in. Different strokes for different folk, I guess.

Yes, I agree. My machine is a G3 with a maximum capacity of 640 MB of RAM, so I have to take care to not have too many apps running in the background. How useful is an app compared to its resource usage? Some apps are worth it, and some are not. For me, personally, all the app launchers I've tried so far fall into the latter category. I've not tried all of them though.

I look forward to using Stacks. It looks to be an improvement on the Dock (which also takes full advantage of Fitts' Law), which I already find to be an incredibly fast and useful tool. None of the launchers I've tried have worked for me as well as the Dock. Stacks looks like it will allow me to tweak the Dock's organization a little bit more, a small feature with big payoffs.

I see that it takes up little resources but at the same time it will definitely spike. I am not against launchers but I have just been so comfortable with the GUI and the built in keyboard short cuts that I can just use those to get around. I will have to try one out and see how i like it because really my opinion is out dated on this. I hated the launcher in classic, in fact I never liked the older Mac OS, however i became the only Mac tech by default at work years and years ago, so i had to fix all of them (started fixing them circa OS 8.6 ish).

My Macbook pro actually kernel paniced today. Memory dump. I had two virtual machines open and several apps and I put it to sleep last night and when i woke it up this morning, wham it puked on me. So yeah I am skeptical to add anything to go rogue and eat up resources.

Quicksilver rocks
 

I just wanted to put in another vote for quicksilver, its such an amazing app, I use it for everything -- a real boost for productivity and a haven if you’re a keyboard shortcutter.

I am a recent pc convert and having QS is one of the things I love about the new-found power of the Mac experience. I often wonder why its not a part of the OS, as, in my opinion, it’s really the perfect example of what Spotlight should do. It’s simple, why stop at finding the files, what do you want to do with them... Do I really need to go to the office to tell my secretary to change a project name?

I also wanted to say that I found no steep learning curve in using QS. It is very easy to understand and use, the only thing that is "steep" is the number of available uses, but each one is pretty simple. It’s just a pleasant process of discovery. 43 folders, the Apple blog and Lifehacker have some great intros and advanced feature demos for learning more, but basically you just add one new use at a time. Believe me, use it and you’ll end up searching for more ways to exploit it’s efficiency, I can’t imagine not having it.

Beyond launching, it is a totally customizable action and process executor. I highly recommend giving it a go.

- Extra (unnecessary) resource consumption

- Not intuitive / Steep learning curve

- Feature cascade

- Does not conform to Apple's 80 percent solution

- Keyboard-centric instead of mouse-centric


If you like Quicksilver, by all means, use it. Those that have tried it seem to either love it or hate it. You're obviously one of the lovers, and there's nothing wrong with that.

There are, however, very good reasons why Apple doesn't incorporate it into the OS, of which I've listed a few above. Building an efficient OS that provides a good user experience is as much about what features not to add as it is about what features to add.

Although I am an avid Quicksilver user and fan, I'm also a long-time Mac user (first one was an 68000/8MHz 512ke "Fat Mac" with 512K of RAM), and I agree very strongly with J Christopher. Quicksilver is not even close to matching what the Mac stands for -- it's certainly not user-friendly to set up, and it's not transparent and obvious to use. It's a great application, but it's not Mac software as Apple and most users see it.

You know I had this discussion with a co-worker about Linux a while back ago. We were discussing what we liked and dis-liked about certain distros. he is a Debian user and I am more of a redhat guy (well i use suse) and we were talking about the dfiferences. I mentioned I didn't like how debian based distros lacked a lot of GUI features, and his typical debian response was, why do you need gui features? You have the terminal right there! My typical response was, why can't you just have both?

The thing is, more and more OSes are going to move away from command line and keyboard short cuts, but of course they will never ever get rid of them. They will always be there but more and more you will see a front end gui for everything else. Why? Honestly it is just easier to get around and easier to learn.

Look at what Apple has done for BSD. I mean there are already tons of front end GUI apps that take advantage of the unix level commands like finger, whois, top, so on and so forth.

The one major advantage of having a GUI is that its all right there in front of you so you can see it all. I will admit when looking at lots of different things at once having a graphical interface does make it easier to grasp than reading through a bunch of text.

I for one am in the middle of this debate because I do like to use command lines in many cases but in others prefer to the GUI. Even server OSes these days are more and more GUI based. I think it is the wave of the future and I think that Apple and many other companies are gearing towards that.

Who knows, someday it may be all voice activated, and the only time you need to input a keyboard is when your voice activation screws up.

Visualise Scotty in Star Trek 4 (save the whales), holding the computer mouse to his face and attempting to give it voice commands, "Computer... computer..."
;)

I hope to see consumer level direct computer-brain interface in my lifetime. If I die of old age, I think the odds are pretty good.

I use Finder/spotlight mostly, but i do use butler sometimes as well.

I disagree with the idea that shortcut keys will die out eventually, they're just to useful, especially if one is very skilled at using a keyboard.

I will admit, they are not for everyone. But really, isn't diversity the point of a computer? I like QS, it fits my style, but just because it works for me doesn't mean it works for my wife. She has a jillion things on her dock, and that's cool. I also know people who halfway it by using the spotlight finder, or perhaps a third party mouse interface (i forget the names, but I've seen them.)

Me, I think this is great. It's the whole point of software, right? Making it so you can manipulate your system in whatever way you want? That's why I like computers. So I hope we never decide there is a "right way" to interface with machines, I hope we all continue to have different needs, and I hope all of our different needs are fulfilled.

DragThing.
I can find (by category) and launch an app or folder or file presto.
Color-code the different tabs for different categories of apps; my main default ones are Audio-Visual; Docs / Files; Folders; Internet; Office; Pastimes; and Utilities.
Try it, you'll like it!