Quicksilver (software) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Quicksilver is a computer utility software computer program for Mac OS X. Originally developed as proprietary freeware by Nicholas Jitkoff of Blacktree, Inc.. It is similar to the Mac OS X applications Launch. Bar and Alfred, but uses a different interaction paradigm. Because of its flexible interface and extensibility, Quicksilver has been called one of the top productivity applications on the Mac. By applying incremental search as the user types, Quicksilver predicts the filename or action typed by the user and automatically selects the object. Quicksilver uses a priority system based on prior usage to . For instance, if a command opening the Documents folder is bound to the F7 key, this hotkey would trigger that action regardless of what application the user is currently in. For example, plug- ins exist for sending email via Mail without opening the application or manipulating images via text commands. From top notch consumer applications award winning to educational products. Quicksilver has the expertise to bring your ideas to life. From games to medical apps, we specialize in solving tough problems.Because most Apple- native applications have extensive scripting libraries, many common tasks can easily be performed from Quicksilver. For instance, i. Tunes can be told to play or pause, increase or decrease the current track's rating, or skip to the previous or next track. This includes extensions and core functionality that most applications and plugins will use. This is currently called QSBase. The preferences will be greatly simplified. There will be Extras- style advanced preferences for the fiddly options. Plugins are going to be hidden from most users, they'll activate themselves automatically or be installable from the web. Since its launch, the site has included a new Plugins Repository, Wiki and Downloads section. After several months of development, the milestone version . On March 2. 5, 2. Quicksilver v. 1. Quicksilver's icon is based on the alchemical symbol for mercury, . Archived from the original on December 2, 2. Archived from the original on November 2. Quicksilver, free download. Quicksilver 1.0: Excellent multi-application launcher. Quicksilver is a handy app and folder launcher has quickly become one of the essential applications on. Quicksilver is a computer utility software computer program for Mac OS X. Originally developed as proprietary freeware by Nicholas Jitkoff of Blacktree, Inc., it is now an open source project hosted on GitHub. Click to viewBefore I owned my first Mac, Quicksilver was the application that made me wish I did. Luckily, slowly but surely, Windows developers began building apps intended to successfully attain that Quicksilver-for-Windows. Whether we're talking Mac, Windows, or Linux. All of Quicksilver's plug-ins are installed through the Quicksilver. Quicksilver for Mac studies your habits and helps you achieve better control over your Mac. I must be stupid but I can't figure out how to work this program. Move and resize windows on your Mac using only the keyboard. Retrieved 1. 7 November 2. The Quicksilver- for- Windows Showdown. Click to view. Before I owned my first Mac, Quicksilver was the application that made me wish I did. Luckily, slowly but surely, Windows developers began building apps intended to successfully attain that Quicksilver- for- Windows status. They started as simple application launchers, but recently the Quicksilver- for- Windows battle has exploded with tons of new applications. The question is: Which one deserves a place on your system? Hit the jump for a closer look at your options, including the Quicksilver clone we're most excited about (hint: it's not Launchy). If you've only heard of one Windows launcher, chances are Launchy is it. It's probably the fastest application launcher for Windows, but it's slowly been integrating more plug- ins and functionality. Launchy is the app of the bunch that I've used most and. If Launchy is your app of choice, check out our advanced guide to tweaking Launchy (the guide is using an older version, but most of the ideas behind the tweaks are still useful for the current version). Popular Alternatives to Quicksilver for Windows, Mac, Linux, iPhone, Android and more. Explore 54 apps like Quicksilver, all suggested and ranked by the AlternativeTo user community. The Quicksilver, on the other hand. We were running Windows Vista Ultimate in our tests. Mac users must download a separate program directly from Option's Web site. Browse and download thousands of apps for your Mac — from your Mac. Shop for apps by category, read user reviews, and buy apps in one simple step. Learn more about the Mac App Store. Learn how to submit apps. It's also got a lot of very nice configuration options and currently just a few great default plug- ins. Cons: Despite its speed, Launchy is still a bit light in the loafers when it comes to advanced functionality beyond application launching. By default Launchy comes with just three (albeit good) plug- ins. If it's going to impress like Quicksilver, it needs more. This is the app that I'm most excited about right now, even though it's not necessarily the app that I'd recommend the regular user start using. The thing that I absolutely love about Mighty. Box. It looks exactly like Quicksilver's Bezel interface and even uses most of the OS X icons. Pros: Mighty. Box's interface, lifted directly from Quicksilver, provides that two- to- three- pane subject/verb/object layout that makes Quicksilver so powerful and allows the user to perform more advanced functionality. It's Java- based, and you currently need to run it from a . There's no GUI for setting your preferences and no robust plug- in structure. It also eats around 5. Quicksilver by Mercury Insurance Group. Versions: 11.2 and 9.6. Quicksilver is used by 7 users of Software Informer. The 'Windows Self-Healing' tool may not be that helpful. MB of RAM. In time, if Mighty. Box gets a bit more polish, it may earn a place in your system tray. Until then, it's probably only for early adopters. Find and Run Robot is a favorite of early adopters, but it hasn't made its way to very mainstream use. It used to be primarily a launcher and nothing else, but it has added more plug- ins and advanced functionality. For the time being, those are all wrapped into the version 2 beta, which the author is holding off with at the moment. That said, FARR2 is what I used for this review. Pros: Like Launchy, FARR is lightweight and fast. Since it has a plug- in architecture in place, it's also extensible. The list of already available plug- ins is impressive, putting to shame much of the competition. Cons: FARR is primarily a really fast launcher, and as such it uses a standard search box. It doesn't have the action- building interface of Quicksilver, so you have to memorize all of the keywords for your plug- in actions rather than using the more intuitive graphical representation offered by Quicksilver. It also reverses the way actions are built, starting with the action (like . Since then it's gone freeware. It does allow you to build actions beyond simple application launching, and if you spend enough time with it there are some actions in there that might tickle your fancy. Cons: Enso still hasn't proven itself to be that useful, or that easy to integrate into your workflow. For example, the original demo video boasted about Enso's ability to turn selected text into ALL CAPS (god knows I absolutely never need that functionality). Also, like FARR, Enso requires you to build from the action to the subject, so rather than typing Firefox and Enso assuming that your first choice of action would be Open, you have to type Open - > Firefox. By looking through their outdated FAQ, I'm worried that Enso is more abandonware than freeware. DOMercury is another pretty naked attempt at copying the best of Quicksilver over to Windows (one of its interfaces mimics Quicksilver's Primer interface). So how does it stand up? Pros: Again, the three- pane interface is always welcoming, ensuring that advanced functionality is at the very least possible. DOMercury indexes the start menu for app launching, can manipulate windows, and launch or search web bookmarks. Cons: Ugly. Especially the default skin for DOMercury (pictured). God it's ugly, and not particularly easy to understand at a glance. Advanced functionality buried in a deceptively simple interface is part of what makes Quicksilver great, and so far DOMercury is missing out on that. It's also a touch on the slow side. This one also copies Quicksilver's Primer interface and has a pretty impressive set of built- in actions. It's got a good amount of Actions, like compress, copy, define, calculate, and tons of other useful stuff. Major kudos for a strong amount of functionality built in. Cons: Unfortunately Win. Silver is plagued by the bad search bug. It indexes your browser bookmarks, for example, but doesn't do a great job of weighting the search terms. When I'm searching for an application to launch like Firefox, I can't even find the application. Dash has advanced past a lot of the others in terms of plug- in development, allowing users to do the traditional application launching in addition to web search, Gcal integration, Outlook email integration, and file browsing. More visual sexiness like thumbnail previews are also a nice touch. It's also got skins and a good preference pane for tweaking Dash to your needs. Cons: Dash's biggest drawback is the pricetag. Quicksilver is free (as in speech), so it's easy to get a very strong and passionate following. Also, since the functionality that Quicksilver provides beyond basic application launching is elusive to a lot of first- time users, it's tough to open your wallet up off the bat. Another promising looker, I haven't seen much action from Skylight since we first posted about it last July. It's capable of learning your habits in true Quicksilver fashion and handles web searches well. Cons: I can't tell if this thing has seen any real development since I first covered it, which is a shame. The search is also a little underdeveloped, which is sort of a deal- breaker for an app of this kind. So that's the current state of things in the Quicksilver- for- Windows world. That's not to say that things couldn't change drastically over time, but the clear standouts in my mind are probably Launchy, FARR, and Mighty. Box (if only for it's completely Quicksilver approach). But as someone desperate to find a viable Quicksilver- like application for Windows, they're ripe for comparison. Having said that, and at the risk of shoving Quicksilver even further in the faces of these developers, anyone looking at developing a really good launcher- and- then- some really should either try out Quicksilver or at least take a look at our severalguides to Quicksilver'sbestfunctionality. I tried to cover most of the best contenders, but there's always that chance that I missed your favorite or didn't give your app of choice a favorable review. That's okay, let's hear what you prefer and why in the comments.
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