Today is one of those rare occasions where I'm not schlepping my 17" MacBook Pro around with me. It's bad enough that I have 20lbs (7kg) of camera gear with me. I decided to put my Fujitsu P1610 to work on this trip and take it with, since the situation I'm in is where I intended to use it. I really don't like using Windows, though. It is less of a disdain for Windows than I have when doing technical things with that OS that bother me, it is more of I could be doing this more easily...
Anyhow. What I wanted to make note of is two tools I really take advantage of on the Mac - for which there really is not a good Windows alternative (that I can find as of today):
- Quicksilver
- Spotlight
Yes, Google Desktop could be compared to Spotlight, but sorry. It is an amazing resource hog on my system that I end up turning off all the time just so that I can conserve battery power when not plugged in. Every time I restart my system, it spends far too much time re-indexing things and creates a frustrating experience. Quicksilver just makes it so easy to do so many things, too. Its API has been used by many hackers out there to add very simple functionality - from posting to Twitter to changing volume and songs in iTunes. Do the above applications mean that OS X is better as an OS? Perhaps one could argue this, but my argument follows the thought that it is indie OS X developers who really have a knack for developing software that is pointed, simple, and amazingly useful. It could be that in the Windows world, because of the sheer size and mass, that it is hard to wade through all that is out there and find your perfect application. If that is the reason why I find applications written for OS X better than those that are similarly written for Windows, then so be it. I think OS X users are generally more demanding and therefore the software tends to be better. There is no way for me to empirically prove this.
Either way, if you are on OS X, try learning and using quicksilver and Spotlight. (Especially for those who avoid the mouse, quicksilver is a godsend.)
Links:
- Ten quicksilver alternatives for Windows
- quicksilver Software
- Apple's Spotlight
