Sure, a Mac version would be nice (and if I was a Mac developer I’d jump at the chance), but I use Windows at work. I installed AW at work hoping to get something approximating the QS experience on Windows. I’d love to see these improvements made to the Windows version. The thing that I think would help your software the most is the feedback bit. I’d like AW to show me command matches in realtime. I’d really really like it to show me indexed matches off my disk. You could make the features optional, for existing users who prefer the current interface.

For users like me — and I’m guessing there are a few of us — who use OSX at home and Windows during the day, the AW interface is a barrier to adoption. I don’t expect you to make it free (and I don’t expect Quicksilver will remain free forever), but cost is a relatively small obstacle compared to usability. Like I said before, “better than the start menu” is a good start, but it doesn’t match the interface I have on the Mac.

Thanks for following up. I’m listening to your chat with Scoble now, BTW. Good stuff.

P.s. We still plan to charge for ActiveWords, no free versions on the horizon..

[edit] I just found the option that disables the toolbar. It wasn’t in the options menu (where the rest of the display options are), but in a pop-out “Monitor Bar” menu. The options seem to be scattered all over.

The Action Pad still doesn’t address the feedback issue. QS encourages me to learn it by poking around. When I start typing and see something pop up that I haven’t seen, before, I can tab-and-arrow around and peep all the options. With AW, I feel like I need to know everything beforehand.
AppRocket does a much better job at talking back to me, though I feel it’s too gaudy and slow. And oh yeah, it’s not FREE!

For the pre-defined text trick, you could use the Shelf or a trigger. I haven’t been able to poke around much in some of the more power-user features, but I’ve seen refs to them. Check 43 Folders.
[edit] Here you go: http://www.43folders.com/2005/06/more_quicksilve.html

> How ’bout the append to a text file trick?

http://www.43folders.com/2004/09/quicksilver_app.html

There’s a saying that the only intuitive interface is the nipple. Everything else must be learned. QS definitely requires a different mode of thinking — and it took awhile for me to really get into it — but I believe it’s a more “data-centric” mode of thinking. Everything you can do in QS is oriented towards the data you pipe into it. Does that make sense?

You mention the AW toolbar has only two options. There’s actually a third where you hide the toolbar at all times and invoke a “mini” version of it when needed.

I’m writing this on the new PB. Very nice! I’m also experimenting with QS, and the going is laborious, quite honestly. I didn’t expect it to be easy, but I at least expected it to be easy to decode. There are a couple of things I want to do and I just can’t figure it out. First, I want some way to easily drop pre-defined text into text fields. My email addy is the prime example. It’s long and I hate typing it. How can QS automate that for me?

How ’bout the append to a text file trick? Heard about it, but can’t find instructions.

On the other hand, I’m digging how fast I can launch stuff with QS. I don’t really have any data on the pb yet, but it’s quick at finding what I do have.

Since this is the first time in my life I’ve spent more than a couple of minutes with a mac, I’m struggling against the new interface as well as new applications. It’s easy, but not quite intuitive. I used to say that Windows was pretty intuitive. I guess stuff gets more “intuitive” the longer you use it.

The one that looks like an alarm clock says “Productivity Center� when I hover over it. I rest my case.

That sounds just dandy. I’m glad you posted these points and came up with a good rebuttal for each of them. Thanks!