Quicksilver appears to be coming back from the dead
Let's take a moment to appreciate the mouse, the marvel of engineering that made computing accessible to the general public. But, if you've ever watched an expert systems administrator rocket through tasks using nothing but the command line and a keyboard, you know the mouse isn't the world's most efficient way to unleash the power of your Mac.
Many of us here at TUAW are devoted fans of the keyboard shortcut super utility Quicksilver. After wandering the wilds of the open source kingdom with mixed results, Quicksilver appears to have been adopted by a small team of developers who released a proper update to the app over the weekend.
Originally developed by a shadowy software wizard with the handle "Alcor," Quicksilver lost its only parent to a serious case of got-hired-by-Google-itis in 2007. Before becoming completely inundated with "real work," Nicholas "Alcor" Jitkoff released Quicksilver to the open source community where its development splintered and stagnated. Some of us at TUAW, discouraged by performance issues and compatibility problems with newer versions of Mac OS X, lost hope in Quicksilver and began experimenting with alternatives. Others continued to recommend the free utility, which lets users quickly launch apps, move files, compose email messages and, with a little practice, quickly accomplish a broad range of tasks with nothing but a few key strokes.
Now, a team of developers at qsapp.com, who say "Quicksilver is like carrying a light-saber and throwing robots across the room with your mind," aims to unify all of the utility's fragmented open source builds, plug-ins and support groups. The team's latest build, Quicksilver version ß59, addresses a handful of known issues while running the tool on Snow Leopard. Above all, it offers hope for the Quicksilver faithful that someone out there wishes to take ownership of this powerful utility. Mac users can download Quicksilver for free at qsapp.com.
[via Minimal Mac]
Share
Source: http://qsapp.com/
Let's take a moment to appreciate the mouse, the marvel of engineering that made computing accessible to the general public. But, if...
Add a Comment
Got-hired-by-Google-itis must be what Andy Hertzfeld caught shortly after he started folklore.org…
April 24 2011 at 10:44 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyFantastic news!
I still use quicksilver everyday.. remains one of my few apps that I can not live without.
+1 QuickSilver!
I'm using Alfred now.
April 19 2011 at 2:07 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyHonestly, you don't need software to do what spotlight does. Command+space type in application "(say, mail) command n to start a new message. Enter email address, enter text, hit shift command d and you're done.
April 19 2011 at 10:03 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyFine, but I've got an example for you: You're working on a flyer in InDesign and want to take a photo that's on your desktop, move it to the project folder, resize it to 300x480 pixels, create a new folder called "Resized Photos," make a duplicate version in the new folder, and then paste that duplicate into your currently open document - all without touching the mouse or switching out of InDesign. You can do that with Quicksilver in about 12 seconds.
April 20 2011 at 5:06 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyQuicksilver I never left you! I tried Launchbar and Alfred neither could touch QS and its super hero powers. The new QS build is working even better, shout out to P.Rob and all the QS dev team for saving all us QS users.
Quick suggestion to anyone updating QS: install the updated plugins from QSapp.com before install the latest QS build to avoid conflicts.
Third post like that since QS died. I'll start believing it when they have released a couple of versions. And a very good step to make a change would be to drop that now-ridiculous version number, in my eyes. But ... let's wish them the best. QS _is_ a great thing, although me too moved on.
April 19 2011 at 3:38 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyI've held on. Everything else felt cheap or ripoff in comparison.
I'm glad I did...
My copy of QS was working great - then I saw this and updated! woohoo!
I moved on to Launchbar. I like a lot of what Alfred has, but without proper Finder and Contact lookup actions, it's still Launchbar by a mile.
That said, I'll likely check out QS if this renewal holds up for a while. Congrats to the people behind that work; resurrection is a b.
@Todd: Just a heads-up that, with the Alfred Powerpack, there's Address Book integration, file system navigation, action on files and more. In the next release, you'll also get global hotkeys, Terminal/Shell shortcuts and loads of iTunes mini player improvements. :)
April 19 2011 at 3:46 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyI used Quicksilver for years. I continued using it with Snow Leopard until I tried Alfred. I think it's great that development has resumed on QS but I'm not switching back anytime soon. Alfred with the Powerpack is absolutely brilliant.
April 18 2011 at 7:49 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyYeah I gotta say - I got burned by too many bad builds, bugs, etc in the last days of QS. I was a QS user from the very first release and stood behind it through thick and thin. Since I prefer keyboard ninja to mouse - my launcher is an integral part of my workflow and any interruption in that workflow by inferior software is unacceptable. I begrudgingly went looking and finally switched from my beloved QS to another launcher utility - in my case I chose Launchbar. It was a tough transition at first - but was well worth it in terms of complete stability and intuitive use. My launcher (Launchbar) is once again an intuitive, stable part of my workflow and I seriously doubt much of anything could get me to go back to QS
April 18 2011 at 5:59 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyDeals of the Day
more deals- Apple iMac Core i7 Quad 3.4GHz 27" w/ 24GB RAM, 2TB HDD for $2,677 + $29 s&h
- Used Apple Magic Mouse for $36 + $4 s&h
- Apple TV Media Receiver for $90 + free shipping
- 9-Piece iPhone Bundle, includes 1,900mAh battery for $8 + free shipping
- Skullcandy Riot Earbud Headphones for $10 + free shipping
- Apple Wireless Bluetooth Keyboard for $40 + $8 s&h
Software Updates
more updatesFeatured Stories
more stories
Popular Stories
TUAW (or The Unofficial Apple Weblog) is a website devoted to tips, reviews, news, analysis and opinion on everything Apple.
43 Comments