I am one of those command line dinosaurs that still find the keyboard more efficient for most tasks. Don’t get me wrong, I really appreciate a well thought out Graphical UI like what I enjoy on my Macs. It is just that I do most of my real work inside terminal windows connected to *nix systems. This work style makes pausing to use the mouse to launch a program, send an email, find a file, print something, or any number of tasks seem inefficient to me.
A number of years ago I found Quicksilver, which is more then a mere application launcher. Quicksilver gave me the power to do most anything without reaching for a mouse while displaying some very nice eye candy. talk about welding 20th century computing with 21st century style!
The dark secret of all this wonder? Instability… Sad but true. Quicksilver suffers from the occasional crash, freeze, and strange bug. Occasional problems with very useful applications can be ignored as long as there is ongoing development leading to the chance of more stability in future versions. Unfortunately this may not be the case moving forward. A bit over a year ago the developer that created Quicksilver announced that he would likely stop working on the program and even went so far as to say that he recommended other solutions like LaunchBar. When I first heard this, I checked out LaunchBar, decided that I did not like it, and promptly buried my head in the sand.
Now with a new version of OS X around the corner, I am forced to look around again at alternatives, and still don’t like what I have seen that much. I know that I can get used to using an alternative, perhaps even learn to like it. However after looking at what is available, I am beginning to doubt that these replacements will have the visual style that I currently enjoy. So here is to Quicksilver, “The best flawed software ever”!
so your telling me CD’ing to the right directory, checking each one with LS, and then typing out stupidly long paths relating more to the graphical interface than directories is easier than drag and drop?
I’m a bash fan, but, i’m not about kicking myself in the teeth. Enjoy tho.
Hey Jesse,
Not really, no. If all you are doing is moving stuff around, it is hard to beat a well designed graphical interface (or even a poorly designed one). I am sorry to hear that terminal work is so painful for you. No wonder you equate it with kicking yourself in the teeth, I would too, if I were in your shoes.