Macworld's productivity boosters

DEVONthink Pro gets my personal vote.

I'm often interested in hearing different reasons why someone prefers one app over another (launcher, editor, browser, whatever) since specific comparisons can often be helpful. Oversimplistic emotionally charged "it's best/worst!" comments (especially when stated as fact) will remain boringly unconvincing.

Re: Butler vs. Quicksilver Okay, I've downloaded and installed Quicksilver (AKA "Tricksilver" -- what's up with that?). It's quite good. And it's evolved a great deal since the last time I tried it, years ago. But, I have to say, among other annoyances, it crashed on me three times just setting it up. That said, I think these two apps have kind of evolved in subtly different ways, and have subtly different purposes, so I could see why someone would choose one over the other in terms of personal preference and specific needs. They largely do the same things, but, again, there are subtle differences. QS, for instance, seems really great at searching and navigating the contents of your local files. Butler seems better at application control (though I'm still getting the hang of QS admittedly). I'm tempted to use both, honestly. I'm certainly not down on QS, I'm really just a big Butler groupie and want to see it get a little cred. In any case, I will continue to compare the two, and am planning a comparison post for my blog: http://systemsboy.blogspot.com Lastly, I completely agree with this: "Discussions of people's favorite launcher app like Butler, Quicksilver (my personal choice), and LaunchBar is like *nix geeks debating about a favorite text editor between pico, emacs, etc. Great flaming debates are good but I think the point we all agree on is that a Mac without one of them is hardly a Mac at all." Ahh, the voice of reason.

I'm curious as to all these things that Butler does that Quicksilver doesn't do, because I'm guessing those people didn't check out Quicksilver's plugin resources (which are fundamental to the program). Quicksilver only starts with a basic feature set and you add functionality as needed through the plugins rather than initially configuring the program to do everything. As far I could tell the only thing that Butler has that Quicksilver lacks is the ability to create custom menu items which seems kind of stupid because the entire point of this class of launcher apps is to make using your computer faster by not using the mouse.

Jason, what's interesting is that Quicksilver was a little difficult for me to pickup because it wasn't like most apps I use. The mainstream apps like Office, Dreamweaver, Creative Suite have so many dialog boxes, palettes and options, it can be little strange to use something like Quicksilver; its concept is so simple that it's difficult because you're used to the complexity of other apps. The light came on when I started reading 43 Folders (there's a series of posts on Quicksilver at http://www.43folders.com/category/quicksilver/). As far as productivity goes, it's the winner hands down because it makes so many apps (iTunes, Mail, iPhoto, etc.) better. I can select a playlist from iTunes without leaving the app I'm and without switching from the application I'm currently using, which is the amazing and time saving part. I have to switch network locations at least twice a day; I created triggers in QS--I press shift-command-h to switch to my Home network location and I'm done. No more trips to the Apple menu > Location which gets tedious, particularly using a PowerBook's trackpad. Being able to append text files and send email messages plus gobs of other things is just the icing on the cake. Actually, being able to navigate the file system and being able to copy and move files without using the Finder is really the icing on the cake. I realize that there are other apps, utilities, etc. for doing most of these things, but that's also what's great about QS: you don't need those other programs because QS can already do it. It's one of the few apps that continues to delight and surprise me. But I won't burn your house down if you don't pick it. ;-)

systemsboy: SPOT ON. I too have been a Butler user for about two years now, and it's truly invaluable. I've tried Quicksilver on many occasions, and frankly it just seems gratuitous. Very slick, very snazzy, but takes too much time to do stuff and has nowhere near the number of features that Butler has. I know Quicksilver is popular, and likely with good reason, and I agree that it's incredibly polished, but I would also urge you to give Butler a go. Give it a week, and I'll be shocked if you ever go back to Quicksilver.

"It always seems writers of these types of articles simply dismiss freeware." You mean like Senuti? http://www.macworld.com/products/eddy05/Senuti-0.29.php ;-)

Discussions of people's favorite launcher app like Butler, Quicksilver (my personal choice), and LaunchBar is like *nix geeks debating about a favorite text editor between pico, emacs, etc. Great flaming debates are good but I think the point we all agree on is that a Mac without one of them is hardly a Mac at all.

Without a doubt TextMate. I've been more productive in TextMate than I ever was in Xcode, and for once a text editor has sane completion!

Jason, I had Quicksilver on my machine for a few months before I knew what to make of it. That is a major downfall of the application, but once it clicks it is like magic. Launchbar is much more straightforward, so I can see why it would get an Eddy before Quicksilver. As for Firefox... not so much, but then again I'm a Safari man.

I guess we don't like QuickSilver as much as you do... seriously, I've downloaded and installed it three times and I still end up deleting it. I will admit that when people love QS, they LOVE it in a we'll-burn-your-house-down-if-you-don't-love-it kind of way, but I've just never understood it. (Also, hasn't it been in beta forever?) Also for the record, we picked our 31 favorite products released from Nov. 1, 2004 to Nov. 1, 2005. The "productivity apps" category is something that was ginned up after the fact because we had to pick a "theme" for each day of the Eddy roll-out. The products come first, not the slots. It's a good thing. Firefox, win an Eddy? I am fascinated by your pamphlet and would like to subscriber to your newsletter.