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This will cure what ails you.

Quicksilver is one sweet app launcher. Give it a whirl.

I'm a 'desktop guy' but I first dicovered computers through TeX in 1980, and keep a Terminal window open half the time. I too bounce back and forth.

Then there's Quicksilver on OS X, with its hybridity; keyboard control full of CLI hooks, anticipatory bold-and-fast GUI feedback, and it's now being extended well past a search/launch core function. It's both GUI and CLI and neither.

I'm using it more and more on its own. File name completion good iconic feedback really makes things feel instantaneous.

I enjoy the tired old desktop, but I'm hoping something like Quicksilver will replace it.

b: It's still (slightly) less efficient than the iTeXMac method, which is one keyboard chord, and completely contained within one app. Additionally if I need to run bibtex again for the current document, I hit Cmd-Alt-B (Then Cmd-Alt-T if I want to typeset the result). What do you have to do in emacs? And what if you have to switch back and forth between compiling a metpost document to generate an image for inclusion in your original document, and the original document? I'm guessing you really lose out on efficiency in a case like that.

c: That is, of course, using an application, and not doing the work at the command line, where you at best have the aid of history or makefiles to save you time.

d: This wasn't really meant to be a pissing contest for shaving keystrokes anyway. It was more to point out that there are some applications that are better suited to a GUI than a CLI (and not just things like Photoshop). For example, browsing web pages. Yes, we have things like links (which I use an awful lot, actually), but it is a complete pain in the ass to use it on pages with screenfuls of links on them and you need to navigate to say the 43rd out of 100 -- and how about if you wanted to email a picture from a web page to someone? Not so easy in links, with Safari and Mail, it's a simple drag operation. And what is the CLI equivalent of something like Quicksilver? I suppose you could whip up something similar using curses (shudders at the thought), but you'd need to keep an extra terminal window open or use screen for it.

Quicksilver is a pretty nifty program, and I used to use it as a free alternative to Launchbar (which used to perform roughly the same tasks). Both programs learn what you want certain shortcuts to mean, and both use Command-Space to activate them. For me, entering 'FX' is Firefox, 'PS' is photoshop, and so on.

However Launchbar has since updated to 4.0 beta release, and in doing so has pre-empted spotlight, as it does (right now, in 10.3) index system-wide metadata. So now you can cue up songs by entering MP3 names, open any kind of files by entering keywords for filename or type, open websites, perform google searches,Google image searches and so on.

It's worth trying out as an alternative to Quicksilver.

Does much the same, but is already there and is pretty and cool.

Check out Quicksilver.

The competition is going to be tough on the Mac platform with launchbar, quicksilver allready there and do not forget apple's upcomming spotlight. Seems like another fine example of a function at which the Mac platform is ahead of its competition: "fast access to content".

Pleased to meet you. I own a mac powerbook, and I'd like to tell you how much OS X sucks. Why?

These are some interesting points you make. I'd like to offer my input on them.

- Only one mouse button. Thats really debilitating. Sure, you can get a USB mouse for a desktop system, but on a laptop you are stuck having to hit the keyboard and the mouse button every time you want to right click. Not that there are ever any usefull funcitons in the drop down menus anyway - Mac applications are designed for people who can't use computers very well to be able to use. Those of us who want more functionality from their applications are stuck.

I'm using a $25 wireless USB mouse on my Powerbook right now and it works great. I hate track-pads on ANY laptop. I find hitting ctrl-and the trackpad button is a little counterintuitive at first, but eventually I just got used to it.

As for the contextual menu being useless by default, I rather agree... FruitMenu is a neat little app that makes the contextual menu completely customizable, and Menu Master does the same for drop-downs. Yeah, they're payware, but pretty inexpensive.

The phrase "Mac applications are designed for people who can't use computers very well to be able to use" makes me wonder if IHBT, but I'm going to continue on anyway.

- Window management is rediculous. You can't maximize a window without jumping through hoops. And those pretty eye-candy window control buttons in the tilte bar are way to small and easy to miss.

OS X is skinnable, so you can find a skin that makes those buttons bigger. Maximizing is different than Windows, and I agree can be a bit counterintuitive, but it's not a big deal in my opinion. Just click and drag the window to its maximum size... the Finder should remember it next time.

- The Finder is lame. Windows Explorer is crap too, but you can get a lot more functionality out of it if you know where to look.

I barely use the Finder anymore, as I use Quicksilver to launch all my apps and find things. Much easier that way. I actually find the opposite to be true now; the Finder's search function works seamlessly and quickly, while searching in Windows explorer takes too many steps for my taste. For an out and out Finder replacement, Pathfinder looks good, though I haven't worked with it enough yet to know if it's worth the money.

- Crashes just as often as my windows PC. I bought the thing for stability and have been very dissapointed.

I hate to be one of those guys that says "my Mac never crashes," but it never does. I had maybe three or four lockups back during 10.2 and none since. My uptime regularly runs into the months, until I need to reboot for security updates. And it's not like I don't try out a lot of new applications, either. It really should not be crashing that much, or at all, if it's running right. You might try doing some maintenance.

- Safari is way better than Internet Explorer on Windows, but far, far the inferior of Firefox

I find Firefox way too slow on OS X -- which is sad, because I like Firefox, but it's just too much of a hog on my Powerbook. I've gotten really used to working with Safari, and have very few complaints with it, even compared to Firefox (which I like a lot).

Don't get me wrong, I think Windows sucks too, and I do appreciate the OS X command line. But OS X's much ballyhooed GUI interface runs a far second behind windows in terms of actual utility.

So to anyone who is considering the switch, I say, dont. Take the extra money you would blow on a powerbook and buy yourself a nice Sony laptop.

I would have to respectfully disagree -- I think OS X takes

Personally I use Quicksilver. It's not so much a keyword searcher as a "type in a couple letters at any time from any app after hitting a key combo and it presents you with a list of everything on your computer containing those letters, organized by relevancy (help files don't get placed higher than the app they are for, for example), and once you select something it remembers those letters so the next time you type them it presents the app/document/bookmark/etc you chose as the first choice."

that was a mouthful. But seriously, if you're on OS X, and you don't check out Quicksilver, you're only hurting yourself. No matter what you're doing you are only a keystroke away from being able to open anything on your keyboard.

Did I mention it's free and has source docs and specs on its website? It even has an option in the prefs to turn on (or off) superfluous visual effects. In short, it's fricken awesome.

Hierarchical filesystems rely on users being able to organize their own data, remembering where they put it, and being able to navigate to it quickly. In reality, this has turned out to be a pain more than anything else. Not all files are easily categorizable, and not all users have their own schemes to keep their files in relevant places. Further, some files can easily fit into two or three different categories, but hierarchical filesystems only allow the file to exist in one place.

There have been numerous hacks to get around this problem: aliases/shortcuts, application and file launchers, the start menu, drawers, etc. Each way is essentially trying to overcome the limits of a hierarchical system.

When the internet was developing, top-level domains helped distinguish different types of content. Domains and sub-domains further helped. When those became too many to deal with, Web directories like Yahoo! became popular in an attempt to categorize and separate content. This is essentially a hierarchical filesystem for the internet. Then Google's innovation was that you didn't have to use a filesystem, you could just search the content and its relationships to find what you wanted. No filesystem is needed: you don't really need bookmarks or directories if you have Google, you just search for whatever you want.

Now, computing companies realize that the same idea applies to the desktop: the hierarchical filesystem is badly broken, and has been ever since people had to start inventing hack after hack to make it more tolerable. File searching was always a kind of last resort for OS writers. Microsoft focused all its efforts on making IE its filebrowser, instead of making a filesystem that's actualyl usable. Now companies realize what the next stage is: Apple has Spotlight, Launchbar, Quicksilver, and Butler; Windows has Google Desktop and Copernic; Linux has the always reliable grep.

It may take one of two more iterations of OSes, but I predict that when you boot up your OS, the first thing you see will not be a desktop of icons and a hierarchical filebrower. Your OS will have one simple interface: a search field. Just like Google's internet search, the OS will have one simply interfact. Only on the desktop, the OS can make the search results appear in realtime, categorize them more efficiently with metadata (which won't be spoofed in the same manner Web metadata was), and be able to launch or alter the files from the search results.

Things to look for: Apple's 10.4 Tiger OS now features Spotlight, but that finder search tool takes an auxiliary position in the UI. By 10.5, look for Spotlight to take the central position away from the Finder/Dock and become the primary instrument for using the OS. Launchbar has already done this to my computer-use habits, and I'm still using 10.3 Panther. If an when WinFS ever surfaces, look for it to transform the Windows desktop in the same manner.

Try out quicksilver. It will allow you to catalog just about anything in order to get fast access with just a quick key combo. (Launch apps, custom searches, search filesystem, control iTunes, etc.)

You don't have to wait until next year to have this type of application on your Mac actually. Check out Launchbar, Quicksilver and Butler. All do exactly what the Google Desktop does, only they are able to search through more types of files and items, and are better integrated with the filesystem. It's nice that Google threw Window's users a bone though. I may use it at work.

I've been using Quicksilver for the past six months and not only do I have access to all of my drive data, iTunes playlists, Safari (and other browser) bookmarks...but I also rarely use a mouse anymore. I don't have to poke around folders at all since with a hotkey I can type a few characters for Quicksilver to present a list of likely objects that I'm looking for. QS also ranks the hits based on usage, so for the most common tasks I only have to hit the hotkey, a few (or one) character(s) and hit enter. Like, for my Slashdot bookmark it's just apple-space, type 's', and hit enter since it seems to be the most common object I use that starts with "s". Quicksilver is completely extensible through a published API and a healthy user community writing plugins to access just about any kind of data that today's Macintosh has.

Indispensible, and this is what I would hope the major MS/Apple/etc. efforts produce. Somehow I doubt it, though.

if you're still a dock user you should really check out the application quicksilver. i haven't used the dock for anything over than drag and drop in awhile.

Some additions, corrections:
- Don't discount Safari as a browser - it's the best browser I've ever used. just turn on tabs (looks in preferences), and popup blocking, which for some reason I'll never understand are disabled by default.
- Third party utilities including Path Finder and Onyx will allow you to quit the Finder. there's really no reason to, though.
- You really don't need to reinstall when you first get the machine - just look through places like your Applications folder for things you don't want.
- And now, my "things no Mac should be without" category:
Quicksilver - the app/document launcher on steroids.
Adium - multi-protocol IM client
Desktop Manager - virtual desktops. Cooperates with expose and multiple monitors.
MenuMeters - CPU/bandwidth/HD Monitor and more, in the menubar.
SideTrack - replacement trackpad driver allows the sides to be used as scroll wheels.
Colloquy - modern IRC client

Noooooooooooooooooo!

This question is how to migrate from Windows to the Mac, not buy a Mac and use it the same silly way that Windows does. Go and download Quicksilver. If you know how to type at least 3 or 4 characters you can use Quicksilver. Trust me, there is no better way to launch an application.

Btw, yes, I do have my Applications folder in my dock, but I don't remember the last time I used it. I'm guessing that its for the rare time that I use some program that I don't use that much and can't remember the name of it, but like I said, I don't remember when that was.

One of the most annoying things to deal with is switching windows. On Windows you can alt-tab to each window, but on Apple Command-Tab moves from application to application. If you want to traverse through multiple windows in the same application it is Command-Tilde(~). Though this might seem minor, since I accidentally discovered command-tilde life has been sweet. Expose helps too, but sometimes you don't need the fancy graphics to switch windows. Also of importance, get these tools and life will be easier:
Quicksilver - Kick ass launcher
Desktop Manager - Pager OSX Style
SSHKeychain - Best OSX integrated SSH Key Management
MenuCalendarClock - Add a calendar linked to iCal to the date/time status bar (disable OSX's date/time display)
SubEthaEdit - Excellent code editor, especially in a group of other coders

• Mac Rumors - Good rumors website
• Mac Slash - Slashdot like mac news site
• Mac News Bytes - Good quick links to mac related articles
• Version Tracker - Software update website. Kind of like download.com for mac.
• Mac Update - Similar to versiontracker.com
• Mac OS X Hints - Good tips site for beginners and experienced people alike.
• Think Secret - Another good rumors site. Very accurate, most of the time.
• Emulation.net - Links to game emulation for mac

• Adium - Multi-protocol IM client
• Byte Controller - Good itunes hotkey/menu pager applet
• Camino - Nice mac based gecko browser.
• Colloquy - Webkit based IRC client. not too newbish.
• Cyberduck - SFTP/FTP client for os x
• Desktop Manager - Multi desktop app for os x
• Apple X11 Server - Apple's integrated X11 server. you'd want this for the next two items
• Fink - UNIX software for your mac
• Gimp.app - decent free photo editor
• Handbrake - DVD to mpeg4 ripper
• iTerm - Multi tabbed terminal
• Logorrhea - iChat log viewer/searcher/indexer
• Meteorologist - Weather applet for the menu bar
• Menu Meters - Menu applet for cpu usage, net usage, and more.
• Mplayer OS X - This app will play just about any media format in existance
• Poisoned - GiFT (Kazaa) and mldonkey based P2P mac client.
• Quicksilver - Very cool file/application/url/itunes/etc/etc/etc indexing program. It's like spotlight, only here TODAY and free!
• VLC - Another good video playing app. Nice to have a backup sometimes if mplayer doesn't play a file (which is very very rare).

For those of you on a Mac, Quicksilver is a kickass app launcher/searcher/etc.... and it searches bookmarks quite effectively. :)

I know it searches Safari bookmarks, I'm pretty sure it also indexes Firefox and some of the other popular browsers.

Oh, and it's free.

Direct-access user interfaces, like Apple's Spotlight, Black Tree Software's QuickSilver, ObjectiveDevelopment's LaunchBar (all for Mac OS X) and Candy Labs' AppRocket (for Windows), are the future of file management interfaces.

The spacial vs. browser-style debate isn't worth winning, because either way you're sticking to metadata-ignorant heirarchies that humans just aren't very good at dealing with beyond a certain point.

You're right, I don't think spotlight seems like LaunchBar - but it does remind me a lot of Quicksilver. But that doesn't mean these are new ideas...

I can't speak for Konfabulator, which I never really found useful, but LaunchBar is already facing stiff competition from QuickSilver, a free and considerably more intuitive work-alike.

I don't know where you get the idea that Apple is replacing these programs. When they released Safari, did everybody stop using other web browsers? Does nobody use Entorage or MailSmith or Eudora just because Apple includes Mail? Are people going to stop using NetNewsWire just because you can read RSS feeds in Safari now? Don't people use VLC dispite QuickTime?

crushing the very developers that make people switch to the Mac because of the cool things that shareware developers do.

I don't know about you, but I switched because of the things that Apple had developed.

My music collection is about 1500 CDs... I ripped them to AIFFs in iTunes and compress to other formats as necessary, as codecs (esp. Lame and Quicktime) improve (I use iTunes-Lame for MP3 compression). This translates to about 160 GB of 160 Kbps AACs. So this is big news for me - I'll be able to fit everything on 3 iPods instead of 4.

I'll be really psyched when 80 GBs are available, and then (dream dream) it'll take a 160 GB iPod to make me really, really happy.

This might not seem like a big deal, but when I'm travelling, especially when I'm flying my Cherokee 180-D across country, I won't be able to anticipate what I'll really want to listen to - and I invariably want to hear something that I didn't bring along.

And if you think iPods are expensive, you should price avionics on an airplane. Or really just about anything on an airplane.

nobody asked, but that won't stop me from answering :)

For AIM: Adium
For a tweaked OS: Cocktail and TinkerTool
For a better OS: my collection of haxies for Unsanity's Application Enhancer (ClearDock, FruitMenu, Metallifizer, Mighty Mouse, ShapeShifter, SharedMenus, Silk, WindowShade X)
For privacy/security: NetBarrier, PeerVanguard (not because I trade P2P, but because I wear a tinfoil hat), Little Snitch
Helpful apps: Butler, QuickSilver, DragThing
For everything else: VLC, SBook5, Transmit, Path Finder, Apple Dev Tools

it's more than 10, but those are all put almost instantly on every fresh OS X install I touch.

I use iTunes BPM to do that from iTunes.

iTunes-LAME

You're comparing apples and oranges (pun intended?). I love tabs too, but you can do the same thing you're talking about in most browsers without tabs by opening links in new windows. Safari even has 'open windown in background' with cmd-shift-click. Map that to middle button and you'll not be much different than that particular nice feature of tabs.

The reason why this sucked (and still sucks) in Moz (at least on a Mac) is the speed or CPU hit of opening a new window and cycling among them. This is gone in Safari, as far as I'm concerned. Install Pith if you want a little clickable list of your open windows like your tabs. I'm kind of sad they open new windows staggered now in the second beta. When they all stacked on top of one another, cmd-~ to cycle among the windows was exactly like cycling through tabs. Bummer...

Anyway, what I meant to point out is that snap-back is a better back button, not a tab replacement. Tabs (or something like it) still would be a nice option to have in Safari.

if you have to have tabs browsing, check out Pith