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Mac OS X  |  System / Utilities  |  Tweaks / Enhancements  |  Quicksilver  |  A complete waste of time?

Quicksilver

Quicksilver

launcher & data manipulator

Version:  1.0b54

   [ Views: 1165 ]

A complete waste of time?

Feedback Type:  Commentary

Contributed by: DrBilly Thursday, July 13 2006 @ 04:28 PM PDT

Product Platform: MacOSX

Used Product For: Have Not Tried

Recommend Product: NO

I can't figure this out. Everywhere I look there's this breathless, "Just wait until you have been using it for a month or two!" Apparently it's an alternative to Apple's Dock, only more difficult to use (the marketing types would insist on the word "Flexible"). But the REALLY irritating thing about this is that NOWHERE does anyone tell you what this program will do for you. I mean, in concrete, real life examples of what -- assuming I take the valuable time to wade thru the documentation -- value this will add to MY life. I plodded thru the [breathless] tutorial and finally gave up -- again, no REASON for using this program is ever offered. And, instead of telling us what the program does they insist "new users" log into their user-forum to hear what other users can tell them about the program! Wrong.

Take my advice... If you KNOW what this does and KNOW it will benefit you, enjoy. But if you DON'T, then don't waste your time trying to figure it out. It's too much work for no clearly-explained reward.

NOTE TO DEVELOPERS: I try and recommend software to my clients every day. It has been my experience that EVERYONE has different views of what is cool and what is silly -- and no single program is cool to everyone. But unless you can tell someone what your program does for them, how can you realistically expect them to invest the time required to find out? Now, let's assume one could "master" the program in an hour -- at least to the extent of knowing whether (in his/her opinion) your program is cool or silly. If s/he decides it is silly, they just wasted a hour of their time. Better to avoid the attempt and return to being productive.

If I have missed something, here, please someone correct me. On the other hand, how many other folks -- just like me -- have just walked away, shaking their heads?   

2 of 9 users found this helpful.

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Comments

4 comments |

A complete waste of time? - Razzledazzle

Yeah this application is REALLY difficult....lemme see now you use the keyboard...that's the thing with all those funny buttons that looks like a typewriter. You press control space and up comes this here window where I guess you type in F for Firefox or S for Safari anf gosh up comes a whole bunch of stuff and waddaya know Safari is at the top of the list. I guess I then push return and Safari comes up. Yeah this is real tough to learn. How about iTunes ??? I type Itunes in that there window and iTunes shows up I hit the right arrow and I get a whole bunch of playlists....yeah this stuff is soooo difficult it's more than a moron from Windoze can absorb in one sitting.

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Thursday, July 13 2006 @ 08:28 PM PDT


RE: A complete waste of time? - mdroz

You know, I didn't understand what this app did either until I read and followed this tutorial:
http://vjarmy.com/archives/2004/03/quicksilver_a_b.php

I now wish I had given the app a chance a long time ago. Give it a try.

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Friday, July 14 2006 @ 01:04 PM PDT


A complete waste of time? - Adreitz

Have you ever heard of MacBreak, the Mac video podcast that's filmed in HD? I recommend watching the podcast for 7-25-06, which is all about Quicksilver. Demonstrates it in use and the power it has. I hadn't heard of it before seeing the podcast, so I've downloaded it and tried it out.

I guess its major power is to initiate fairly complex commands quickly, with a "noun - verb - object" construction. Or you can just use it as a launcher to quickly launch programs buried deep in your hard drive. In order to use it efficiently, though, you need to be experienced with it, which apparently takes a week or so. The program is also insanely powerful and flexible to the point that I don't know 3/4 of what it can do. That's probably why you've had a hard time finding a synopsis of what it is.

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Wednesday, July 26 2006 @ 05:52 AM PDT


totally agree -- overly complexified & no clear explanation for what it does - SWriter

couldn't agree more with all the critiques -- it looks nice, impressive all that but wtf is it for? and if it's not intuitive & easy to simply use -- it's not mac-like at all

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Monday, July 31 2006 @ 02:37 PM PDT