Too Geek To Be True

If you’ve just started using Mac, you would be mad if you don’t use Quicksilver, especially if you are a keyboard geek and if you think using a mouse is only for whimps!

Quicksilver, first and foremost, is a ‘keystroke app launcher‘.  Here is a basic explanation of what it does (from the documentation):

When opened, it will create a catalog of applications and some frequently used folders and documents. Activate it, and you can search for and open anything in its catalog instantly. The search is adaptive, so Quicksilver will recognize which items you are searching for based on previous experience. It also supports abbreviations, so you can type entire words, or just fragments of each. When not in use, Quicksilver vanishes, waiting for the next time you summon it.

Typically you would bind the Mac+Space keystroke to open QS small interface. When it opens, you can start typing the first few alphabets from the name of the application that you want to launch. QS will try to ‘guess’ the right application, based upon past experience.  It will also give you a list of all possible applications in a drop-down list, which you could then choose.

Everything is wonderful.  Using QS, I hardly use the Dock, which I set to hidden.

Now, if you are, like me, coming from Windows platform, and still using it for one of other reason (your day job for example), I bet you miss QS functionality so much (I did).

Come Lauchy to the rescue !

Lauchy is an open source application that runs on window and linux.  It works much the same way as QS, and surprisingly (for Windows app) works very well.
It is now one of the Windows Utilities in my permanent list of must-have Windows apps.