Decaflon Thread: Why does everyone love Quicksilver?

Why does everyone love Quicksilver?

weisheng — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 21:47:27

I use it primarily for launching applications (those that I use less and don't warrant a place on the Dock), system functions like empty trash (just hit 'E', use this all the time) and restart as well as folder browsing. It's much faster browsing folders using QS than the Finder. Some of the plugins are pretty useful too - I use the Flickr plugin to upload stuff from my desktop.

It takes forever to load a login though, don't know why. Hope going open source will help bring people in who can streamline its performance and update the plugins, some of which are now hopelessly outdated. Hopefully there'll be some innovative new ones too.

I guess QS is more for those who prefer to use the keyboard for navigation rather than the mouse. It all depends on your usual workflow.

Why does everyone love Quicksilver?

CarsonClay — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 21:39:57

Quicksilver is primarily a productivity tool. If you cannot be more productive with it, you should not use it. Don't worry about all the Mac users that insist on it being the Holy Grail, if it doesn't help you, don't waste your time.

Why does everyone love Quicksilver?

dango — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 10:18:01

Yes like most of the people above, I didn't use the full capability of quicksilver and now that I have Leopard installed I use spotlight. Quicksilver has many features that I never tapped into. I used it as a quick launcher but now with the improved speed of spotlight I plan on uninstalling it.

Why does everyone love Quicksilver?

RightOn — Sat, 10 Nov 2007 03:10:52

I use it as an app launcher (which shouldn't be too odd since it's a listed use for the app in the info) but it's also handy as a calculator ,a bookmark launcher, address finder etc.

Why does everyone love Quicksilver?

jark — Sat, 10 Nov 2007 02:30:43

It really sounds like most people just use it as an application launcher more than anything. Seems odd to use it solely for that purpose.

Anyhow, many thanks for the use case scenarios.

Why does everyone love Quicksilver?

peroty — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 20:37:55

It took me a couple of tries to get used to it. But now that I have, I love it. I am more keyboard-based when I compute. So instead of adding countless icon to my dock, I can just type in the name of what I want to open. Apps. Folders. Anything.

And there it is, right in front of me. It makes sense to the way my brain works. It's less of a folder-based organization, and more of a search-based organization...

Why does everyone love Quicksilver?

Hige — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 20:01:18

I don't have Leopard yet, so Quicksilver is still my key method of launching apps and doing minor jobs. There's apparently a lot to be done with Quicksilver that I never took the time to understand-- the amount of time to acquire plugins and learn how to use them seemed like a waste when I knew exactly how to do the same things in other ways.

It's still an excellent program, though. Probably my most used third-party app after Firefox and Mercury. OS X seems to be undermining its necessity these days, but I still have affection for it in the same way you might for a worn-out chair that’s apart of the scenery.

Why does everyone love Quicksilver?

jchristopher — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 19:09:56

I used it for a while, but only for application launching. With the new Spotlight in Leopard, I don't really have much use for Quicksilver. On another note; didn't it recently go open source? If so, that's great.

Why does everyone love Quicksilver?

hthth — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 18:52:46

Quicksilver's a bit overhyped, but well worth the download. I didn't really start appreciating it until I saw (and partly mimicked) a person that only had three items in his dock: Finder, Dashboard and Quicksilver. After I undocked many of my commonly used apps I was more dependant on using QS, and thus had an easier time getting used to it.

It's a timesaver. But I really haven't made an effort to use it beyond the basic app launching and Quick Mail (Copy an item, bring up QS and paste the item. Type 'M', the first X letters of a persons name and voila, mail message). That is, I use the other features so rarely that they're not worth mentioning.

Why does everyone love Quicksilver?

Ozone42 — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 18:00:10

I liked it in tiger. With the changes to spotlight in leopard it's not useful to me. I can command-space and start typing an app name, hit enter and it's launched. That's all I used quicksilver for.

I know it has a lot more powerful features but I've never "got it."

Why does everyone love Quicksilver?

JPhill — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 17:41:13

I wouldn't go as far to say it's some holy grail app, but I do use it daily. It's just an easy way to launch apps and search for stuff on your machine. That way I can slim up my Dock.

Why does everyone love Quicksilver?

jark — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 16:10:00

I have downloaded, installed, configured and toyed around with Quicksilver on more than one occasion, all resulting in the prompt removal of the application. Many folks tout Quicksilver as the holy grail of OS X applications, because it can do this, that and the other thing.

But I do not see it. I can not, for the life of me, figure out what the deal with Quicksilver is all about. What makes this application so compelling that so many people advocate its usage?

Obviously I am blind, stupid and completely missing something. What am I missing?

How have you integrated Quicksilver in your every day Mac use? What makes this the application to use?

... or maybe you don't use Quicksilver?