December, 2006

As mentioned in the previous post, I use [Launchbar](http://www.obdev.at/products/launchbar/) for all my app launching, web searching, etc needs. I really like the app and I’ve had no worries with it at all.

I am kind of concerned though at the lack of updates recently. Not just updates to the app itself, but actual updates to the webpage.

On October 31, I emailed support with the following email:

>*I am just curious if LaunchBar is still in development or has progress*
>*on it been halted? The last word about it seems to have been April*
>*2006 when version 4.1 was released and since then i have not seen or*
>*heard anything else about its development or likelihood for updates.*

>*Is there some kind of Launchbar development blog that indicates any*
>*progress that is happening to the application?*

>*As a registered user i am just curious whether i should be starting to*
>*look for a LaunchBar equivalent which is getting more development.*

The same day, I received the following reply:

>*No need to worry, LaunchBar development is very alive, and there are*
>*lots of new features in the queue. LaunchBar 4.2 is planned to be*
>*released shortly.*

It’s good to see that someone is still there and email’s get answered quickly, but since then there hasn’t been any further updates. I’d really like to see some kind of blog or something on the site to indicate that things are actually happening.

I guess I really shouldn’t complain, because it is an awesome app. I just wonder if i shouldn’t be looking elsewhere for a replacement which is getting more apparent development i.e. [Quicksilver](http://quicksilver.blacktree.com/)

EDIT: Typical, right after I post this I go and browse the Launchbar forums and find [this](http://forums.obdev.at/viewtopic.php?t=13) thread. Seems it is still in development as of 9th November, with plans for versions ‘very soon’ and also past the release of Leopard. Wait and see i guess.

It occurred to me today during lunch that i very rarely use [Spotlight](http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/spotlight/) in OS X. When I say rarely I mean pretty much never. I think the last thing I used it for was to find a phone number that I knew I had written down somewhere but couldn’t remember where (turns out it was in an email). I guess this is the kind of thing spotlight is meant to be used for, but I wonder if I’m not getting the full benefit out of it.

I use [Launchbar](http://www.obdev.at/products/launchbar/) for all my app launching, web searching, file browsing, etc needs since spotlight just seems too slow to be an app launcher.

I have no need to use it to search for documents, as I tend to file things away in correctly named folders and sub-folders and I can find pretty much find any document I could need using launchbar.

I guess the only real thing I use it for is for searching inside files for particular things (i.e. the phone number which i now know was in an email). I guess this is where spotlight really ‘shines’ for me, because its really good at that.

But yeah, my use of spotlight is very limited. Its good to know it’s there if/when I need it.

Just found this [Spotlight Tips](http://www.apple.com/macosx/tips/spotlight.html) page from apple. Has some interesting things. I guess I could start using Spotlight more by actually adding in keywords for photos / files / documents.