Filed under: Open Source, Developer
Quicksilver goes Open Source
Long time readers know that we at TUAW love Quicksilver, the brilliant keyboard launcher application from Blacktree. Now after previously making promises to that effect, the developer (who likes to go by Alcor) has released the source for Quicksilver as a Google Code project. While Quicksilver has always had a highly extensible plugin system, this is great news for the code monkeys out there who can now really dig into the application. Mere moral users like myself can hope, however, that more eyes and brains working on the application will lead to more stability and faster development. A big TUAW 'attaboy to Alcor for taking this step! Thanks to everyone who sent this in!
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
jay said 9:15AM on 11-06-2007
quite possibly the greatest utility ever written for the mac platform. I'm very happy to see it go open source - it can only lead to even greater things.
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serenity said 9:17AM on 11-06-2007
YES! Awesome news! :)
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Ben said 9:21AM on 11-06-2007
Moral or mortal?
;-)
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richard said 10:31AM on 11-06-2007
YEAH!
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Ed said 10:58AM on 11-06-2007
This is awesome.
On a side note: is it just me or does anyone else find annoying when blogs like tuaw and engadget refer to an application / product and, instead of using the URL of the official site, the link is for tags on their own blog? e.g.: I expect "Quicksilver" to take me to "http://blacktree.com/?quicksilver" rather than "http://www.tuaw.com/tag/Quicksilver/"
I find it just a tad obnoxious. But maybe it's just me.
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Rafe H. said 11:09AM on 11-06-2007
Ed: Agree. For Safari users who stick with the default setup, with the Status Bar disabled, must be a total bummer for them.
I think they're encouraged to do it to get page hits. The funny thing is that most TUAW readers are now trained to never click on any links and head over to Google instead. Doh!
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Alan said 11:14AM on 11-06-2007
Ed: I find it Very annoying! It drives me bonkers. What should be a quick click to go somewhere ends up being a "oh, that's not what I wanted. now let me go friggin look it up" situation.
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Rhywun said 11:17AM on 11-06-2007
I've been a LaunchBar guy for a while now; in fact I could never come to grips with Quicksilver's complexity and occasional instability, but even still I install it every once in a while and give it a try. It does get a little easier each time... Anyway I'd love to see what the community does with this.
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Ben said 11:42AM on 11-06-2007
I agree with Ed (but also still love you, TUAW).
Does anyone know how I can donate to Quicksilver/Blacktree? I can't for the life of me find a place to do that.
So nice to hear that they're opening this up.
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Cameron said 12:44PM on 11-06-2007
I love that this is happening, but is anyone stepping up to help with this project? Otherwise opening the source won't help.
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Jono said 12:47PM on 11-06-2007
Yea Ed, this has driven me crazy for ages.
Now I know to never click on TUAW links, I do a Google search instead. Pretty ridiculous situation!
@Ben.
You can donate here http://quicksilver.blacktree.com/contribute.php (But it's down at the moment).
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Chris Thomson said 1:30PM on 11-06-2007
What happened to quicksilver.blacktree.com anyway?
Great to hear they are opening Quicksilver up! :)
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Brian said 1:36PM on 11-06-2007
@Ed: I totally agree, this drives me crazy. TUAW seems to be the worst offender (love ya TUAW, but come on) in that they will happily include no link to the project/app being discussed. TUAW, its okay to link to other web sites on the Internet.
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joem said 1:41PM on 11-06-2007
I would be totally excited about this if someone would make a stripped-down app launcher only fork of Quicksilver... but alas, I may be the only person who wants such a thing, and I can't program. Darn.
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carl said 1:50PM on 11-06-2007
@joem: If you're running Leopard, have you tried using Spotlight as an app launcher? I find it's very quick now, and actually more convenient than Quicksilver. To the point where I've uninstalled Quicksilver altogether. (Never used it for anything but an app launcher anyway.)
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Chris said 2:59PM on 11-06-2007
While we're having a grumble about TUAW linking policy,...
What's the difference between a "category" and a "tag". I suppose you could say a category is a broader thing, and a tag more specific? Is that the intention? So what'ts the difference between the tag "Developer" and the category "Developer"? A superficial glance suggests articles aren't common to both, so if I want to search for something I have to do it twice? That's not very Apple-like.
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Mat Lu said 2:23PM on 11-06-2007
Okay, we hear ya! We've clarified our policy and from now on application name links should go off-site.
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Adam W said 3:15PM on 11-06-2007
Mat : THANK YOU! That drives me nuts as well, and it's great to see you guys listening to feedback.
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KerryB said 3:20PM on 11-06-2007
Wow, cool that TUAW just like that decided to change the policy for App names.
I was going to suggest a compromise, that the links still go to the site's article search function, but that a link to the product home page is inserted above the search results.
It turns one click into two for the users -- which isn't so bad -- and still gives Weblogs, Inc. the ability to promote their story archive.
Anyway, moot now, I guess.
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richard said 3:45PM on 11-06-2007
@Mat Lu: Thank you, linking to different places is what www is all about.
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