Funny this article was posted today. I just released DOMercury 2.3,([www.odierno.com]) the Windows port with the greatest amount of functionality. If you like the look of Quicksilver as well as the feel, try using the QSkin, its been very popular so far for people stuck on Windows boxes at work.

Dom

Apple should make their own version and bundle it with OSX; it's just too amazing for people not to use. Nice interview BTW, short and to the point.

nettoyeur

I wish he'd consider a paid version of Quicksilver or that someone takes advantage of the open source code to develop a commercial version. This is worth paying for.

They could even sell it a la the Radiohead album - pay what it's worth to you. I'd got with at least $10 for quick access to my file system.

indros

all i ask is that qs stays as stable as it currently is (which is just fine for me) throughout os x's future updates. Please keep up the compatibility updates Nicholas :) i don't think i'll upgrade beyond leopard until qs works in the new version...it's THAT good.

Quine

Nice video, nice croaky chick voice.

middy

The current build (and the one before) were actually pretty stable for me. In the year I've been using it, it has quite maybe 5 times. I don't do text/image manipulation but I use to to archive files, move files, copy, launch, define words, etc.

I could use QS in its current state for the conceivable future (conceivable future being a year or so until the next big thang comes around).

This Jitkoff guy is really good though.

5cents

Not even a considered port to unix/linux, windows?

Quicksilver is the only original thing on macs of any serious value. And now it's open source?

It is delicious cake. I must eat it.

Caidence

When I build my hackintosh first thing on it is stuff from blacktree.

nikoPSK

I'm going to be really really sad if QS dies away in some way. I can't believe he actually recommended another app like Launchbar - QS is the best hands down!

Please, I hope a gifted group of mac lover programmers pick this up and make it continue to fly...

qrius

@Johnay:
Watch the video at the end. It gives a complete explanation.

Woodruff

Okay. I just pored over the whole article and I still have NO idea what the heck Quicksilver is (other than another word for mercury.) I don't have any macs, though, so I guess it doesn't really matter.

Johnay

Good news/bad news, right? The Mac community is pretty faithful to this program now - I'll betcha we see it carry on, if not in the Quicksilver name, at least in spirit.

I'm running PPC G4 iBook right now, but I'm worried that when I do eventually switch to the Intel Macs I'll have problems with Quicksilver. Guess I better download a DMG really quick and hold onto it...

davelawrence8

@Caidence: it's based on cocoa. so it's not a matter of just "porting."

twins8791

Lifehacker interview on the future of Quicksilver on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)

@emmetp:
Check out our project GNOME Do
[lifehacker.com]
[edge.launchpad.net]

It's not up to QS level yet, but it's only a few months old.

deuce868

Lifehacker: I don't like that answer. I guess that sort of begs the question regarding the stable branch: Do you consider it pretty much feature complete?

Try makes me wonder or leaves one more burning question instead.
Also try learning English before conducting an interview.

agb

I agree with anyone who said they'd pay for it; Quicksilver is probably the most useful application I've ever used.

dhaffner

someone pleeez port quicksilver to linux! hooray for opensource!

emmetp

Adam -

There are conflicting messages in this interview. On the one hand, doom and gloom that QuickSilver development will end.

On the other, the news (which I hadn't heard before) that QS will be open-sourced, allowing *any* programmer to develop it.

Reconciling these is a little murky. Given the number of programmers out there willing to work on Open Source projects, it's hard for me to believe that no one will step forward to work on it.

Or perhaps there is something I'm missing?

- Alaska Jack

Alaska Jack

I'd pay anywhere up to 30-40 dollars for QS, that's how much I love it. It's the only program that opens when I turn on my MacBook. I love it.

grant0

I don't say this often, but I'd pay for this. Take it, clean it up, and tell me what you want for it - that program is *INDISPENSABLE* to me, and I really need it not to stop working with 10.6 (or 10.5.whatever). 'Alternatives' be damned, there's really nothing else out there that does what QS does.

Eric Danielson

Quicksilver is way ahead of its time.
As far as I'm concerned, QS is what Spotlight SHOULD be someday. I'd love to see Apple (or Jitkoff's employer, Google) pick it up, fund it, hire developers to work on it, and run with it. It doesn't have a big audience, but the one it does have is fierce and committed (myself included) and if it survives, will only get bigger.

Gina Trapani, Lifehacker Editor

Um, someone please keep me away from any sharp objects for the week...

a11en

"I'm not making any promises. I'll always consider number of keystrokes. But Ideally I want something that can take many forms, allowing the user to use whatever form of input they prefer."

I was happy to read that. I look forward to seeing future apps from Blacktree, preferably something mouse based so I don't have to slow down my workflow to use it.

@knvb1123:
Spotlight is faster in Leopard than it was in Tiger. Unfortunately, that speed came at the price of searching capability. Leopard's Spotlight is laughable at best compared to Tiger's when searching. Try clicking on the Spotlight icon and searching for "Finder.app". In theory, it should be the first selection considering it is an app.

Generally speaking Leopard is a big improvement on an OS that was already leading the competition. It sure would be nice to have searching ability back, without a third party installation. I'll happily give up Spotlight's new found speed in exchange for the basic functionality of the previous version.

UCF_Chris

@agb: Per Wikipedia:

"Begs the question" is often used in a sense distinct from the original meaning of this phrase to mean "raises the question".

We can fight about the evolution of language and linguistics if you want, but instead why don't we just stick to the article.

Adam Pash, LH Senior Editor

AGB said: "...a bunch of silly stuff about 'begs the question'..."

It's one thing to be a stickler for good grammar. It's another to be an ass over something that, in common use by 99.9% of English-speaking people on Earth, no longer means what you want it to mean.

If we listened to people like you we'd all be writing fourth-rate Chaucer.

CrackWilding

i'm one of the (many) faithful who would PAY for quicksilver. especially for continued development. i'm excited about what open source will do for the project, but if that means the end of development the i'd rather pay jitkoff to keep up the good work.

hookem

Leopard with the faster Spot Light completely eradicates the fact that you need QS for simple app launching... Sure actions are cool but like me, if all you need is app launching, Spot Light is good enough now in Leopard =D

knvb1123

@badsandwich: Cool. Thanks for pointing out that page. QS has been quite stable for me--esp. when considering its functionality; it's quite amazing that it has been so stable given the complaints on the code. Hopefully, we will see those changes in a new release quite soon.

nettoyeur

no-one's posted this yet, but by coincidence I just saw this: [lipidity.com] so there is at least one person out there actively working on it

badsandwich

@agb: Grammar is a slave to meaning, not the other way around. The statement was not ambiguous...why the hostility?

nettoyeur

@Gina Trapani, Lifehacker Editor: I disagree here. I use QS and spotlight in complementary ways. I like to keep QS light, meaning that when I type in a few letters I get very few false positives (at the expense of losing comprehensive searches). With Spotlight, I want it to dredge up as much as possible, because I usually go to it when I have only a vague idea of what I'm looking for.

nettoyeur

I hope it fades away, I'm sick of hearing how great it is. It overly complicates the simplest of things.

pixelkid

Build 54 is the latest? The most recent version I can find on blacktree.com is #53? Where can I find #54? Or was that a typo?

mwagner

@agb

I'm with you, brother. Stay strong in the face of those who would tell you otherwise! Nobody likes a stodgy grammarian, but damn, as a trained Philosopher that stuff really gets to me.

Please, humanity, give the original meaning back to begs the question. Take "ironic" as a gesture of my good faith, I've given up on that word anyway, it can mean coincidence! Honest! That's fine!

Grantium

@FADECOMIC: No not really.

Despite the above being common usage now, the proper way to state this is to use "begs for the question".
Taken literally, the phrase implies that the author (or the authors argument) is "begging the question [for Noun/verb]".
Similar to "He begs her" the meaning is to ask for an item object or action.
In other words the author is begging the question for a meaning or result. Ex. "The statement that water is wet begs the question are all wet things water?"

eldorel

@agb: The OED lists Adam's usage as a viable meaning. It certainly makes sense as a literal interpretation of the phrase.

fadecomic

@pixelkid: Ack! Overly complicates things? Nowadays having to do things the ordinary way feels like pushing rope. Has a client requested a file be emailed? Single-click, Apple-C, Apple-Space, Apple-V, tab, type part of client's email address...hit Return. Click on Send when the Mail window comes up. The email is even titled for me. I begin AdBuilder searches with Apple-Space, then 'adb'.

I'm a pretty mundane user of Quicksilver, and I'm not as anal-retentive about using it as some people around are, but for the areas where it makes sense, I can truly get several things done a LOT faster using QS.

regeya

Quicksilver is one of those really great applications that I wouldn't mind paying for.

mw2006

@UCF_Chris: Because I have to leave my keyboard to do that.

stinkytaco

@agb: Or, all of you can come to the realization that English has no "proper grammar" because it has no grammatical authority. There is only common usage.

If you want proper grammar, speak French.

I like Quicksilver. It's awesome.

stinkytaco

@regeya:

I can't help but wonder how that is faster than performing the same task without Quicksilver:

Drag file to Mail icon in Dock.
Type first part of client's email address.
Click send.

UCF_Chris

@UCF_Chris:

a) You assume I like to have an icon on my dock for every application I'd like to easily interact with.
2) Even if your single example was to be quicker, how quickly can you grab a bunch of images from disparate locations one at a time, stick them on a shelf, batch change the sizes of all the images, compress them into a zip, and transmit it to an ftp site? I have the feeling that in a race between mouse manipulation and text manipulation with Quicksilver you might lose out on that one, especially against a fast touch typist. That whole process would take all of a minute for me, not including upload time, of course.

mediaphile

1. Great interview, Adam.

2. Adam is right re "begs the question" ... stick to the content of the interview, and forget the grammar nitpickiness.

3. agp is a jerk, but he's also right ... although "begs the question" has developed a wide misuse (and thus is destined to eventually become common usage) ... there are good reasons for fighting for its proper usage. The phrase (derived from Latin) has a specific meaning in logic, and by changing the meaning of this very useful phrase, we are completely corrupting its use in logic. What will the field of logic use when "begs the question" means "implies the question"? There's no good substitute at the moment. It confuses things.

But as I said, this is a discussion for elsewhere. For now, let's stick with Quicksilver. :)

leo.babauta

@mediaphile:

I also use a handy utility included with OS X called Automator.

Quicksilver might be slightly faster once, but once a workflow is saved, Automator will be faster, requiring well under a minute to a minute, depending on the image files (whether they are a random collection, or can be identified by Automator while in their current locations).

>I have the feeling that in a race between mouse manipulation and text
> manipulation with Quicksilver you might lose out on that one, especially
> against a fast touch typist.

I would love to take that Pepsi challenge. Studies have shown that the mouse is virtually always faster than the keyboard. Studies have also shown that the keyboard is virtually always perceived to be faster then the mouse by the user.

I've tried Quicksilver on multiple occasions. If it could speed up my work, I would use it, but it doesn't. Conversely, it costs me too much extra time, because it is keyboard based, and adds the unnecessary complexity of sentence structure. Hopefully future offerings from Blacktree will overcome these shortcomings.

UCF_Chris

Two vital questions not asked:

1. Why not make QS buyable? I'm addicted to the $25 price point by now. Anyone who uses it as a simple launcher and KwikeeFind would be good for $10 -- it's so fast & pretty.

2. How does Jitkoff force small caps in the app name?

dswift

Now I'm sad...

Quicksilver is the first thing I download when i have a fresh install of OS X. I can't imagine working on a mac without Quicksilver. It is that good. And it is so much more than an app launcher.

I would gladly pay $30-$40 for this software without even thinking twice about it.

Don't let it die!

forsgren

Before returning to Quicksilver...

I just have to add that preserving and promoting the proper use of "begs the question" is VERY important, since it describes a very very common fallacy. I would even go so far as to guess that the fallacy is even more common than the misuse of the phrase that describes it. Perhaps if more people knew the proper meaning of "begs the question", that awareness would lead to less begging of the question.

As you were...

Johnay