Bluetooth connectivity via implant in mastoid process, corneal implants with HUD like the fighter pilots have.

:eek:

Edit: And Wii implants in fingers to manipulate the apps.

jchristopher and novascotian i agree with what your saying, you bring up some good points. i really meant "part of the os" in a more conceptual way. the program would obviously be macified and blow our mind with its genius, wink, but it would have to incorporate many of the elements of each of the above-mentioned apps.

lets leave quicksilver out of it then... conceptually speaking though, dont you think that spotlight or some userfriendly macified variation is needed. doesnt it seem like it stops short and is inefficient to stop at finding a file and not giving some "action options" for what you may want to do with the file. i mean really thats what alot of these programs are really providing.

its a hard toss up for me, on one hand mac is so user friendly that it makes it open for everyone and unfortunately "average is dumb" to quote american splendor, but on the other hand i really think mac IS a scalable platform for power users that will lead us into the future, changing how we interact with all this information. the users are getting more savvy all the time. an increase in efficiency seems very mac.

i agree with zalister that shortcuts wont die out, although i think they may change, ie voice, but maybe this truly is the beauty of software and 3rd party resolutions and its not the job of the os. a lack of dogmatism is crucial. its fun to think about where were headed

My personal experience with Quicksilver is that it slows me down compared to how quickly I can use Finder, Dock, Spotlight, Exposé, Automator, etc. for the same tasks, but I prefer mousing (actually "trackpadding") over keyboarding, so I'm admittedly biased. I also don't use Spotlight (or any other app) unless it is the most appropriate tool in my toolbox for a particular job.

Quicksilver can do some stuff that the Dock does, some stuff that Finder does, some stuff Spotlight does, etc. It can't really be compared directly to any single Apple app. The Apple apps are more specialized, but are (arguably) more capable for their own specialized purposes. One can think of Quicksilver as an adjustable wrench. It is more versatile than any single wrench of fixed size (any single Apple app), but not as versatile as an entire set of fixed size wrenches. Of course, some people still prefer the adjustable wrench when it will work; it's personal preference.

Having said that, it's rare to find an application that could not be improved, even those written by Apple. Spotlight is fairly new, having only appeared in Tiger, so it is highly probable Apple will make improvements and refinements in Leopard and subsequent OS X releases.

I used to swear by DragThing in the old days of Classic. Nowadays, the Dock suits me just fine.

I have always preferred Quicksilver, but Launchbar is almost as good in my opinion. Let's see how Launchbar 5 works once it's released out of beta.

Whoa. Haven't seen this thread for awhile!

Be interesting to see what folks might post now that Leopard's been out for awhile. I'm still at 10.4.11 and still using Butler.

I too prefer Quicksilver often using it to launch scripts from its triggers, and always using it for google. I don't use SpotLight much (though I do use mdls and mdfind -onlyin frequently in scripts), I prefer Houdahspot because it doesn't have restrictions on where it searches. If I want more info, I use mdls or File Buddy.

I just use the Apple built in keyboard shortcuts and stacks in Leopard with Spaces I find it is all I really need.

Still using X-Assist, still run Dockless and happily so.

Launchbar since forever, miss it when it's not there. Don't really "get" the advantages of Spaces.

I use Spotlight to launch my apps, although I am trying out Google's Quick Search Box (my friend wrote it).

I just use cmd + shift + a to open up apps, then hit the letter that the app starts with then I hit cmd + o, and do the same to open up Utilities cmd + shift + u.

I don't have any desire to use third party though I keep hearing great things about quicksilver.....maybe one of these days I will give it a try see what all the fuss is about.

I used to use QuickSilver, but I keep returning to the Dock. I've no idea why.

I actually like the 3D dock with the smoked glass theme applied to it.

quicksilver for me very simple and easy to use, and i only just discovered some of the advanced stuff that it can do, and @Anti that smoked glass theme is pretty nice cheers