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Do you use Launchpad?


  • Total voters
    24
  • Poll closed .

JazzyGB1

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jan 18, 2002
304
336
UK
Hi,
With Apple increasing the use of IOS 'features' in OSX, I wanted to find out if most users use them - particularly the Launchpad which I NEVER use.
So the question is....

Do you use Launchpad? :)
 
Nope, I've note really.

I've clicked on it, but mostly by mistake - shooting for the app store icon.
 
When I first installed Lion, I thought "I won't be using that" (nor Mission Control), and I trashed the icons from the Dock.

However, with two large monitors and my Dock on the far right-hand side, it can be a long way to move the pointer over to the Dock. Doing a little "scrunch" on the Trackpad and then flicking or typing is very easy and useful.
In fact, I'd rather have no Dock and get that extra centimetre for my windows.

There are other methods of selecting apps to launch, of course -- Spotlight, Command-shift-A, and so on. This is just one more. For people who were introduced to Macs after using an iPhone, I can see that it does make sense to give them some continuity.

However, it's an addition to OS X; it's not the crippling of OS X. I think the "OMG Apple is turning my computer into a toy!" reaction is a little over-stated, to say the least. Apart from the scroll bars (which I have no problem with as I haven't actually manipulated a scroll bar as a means to scroll for a decade), I'm not sure what other features of 10.7 and 10.8 might be considered "iOS-ification".

Mission Control is also very useful. I can't decide whether having the windows grouped by application or not is better. I don't see that the SL implementation was necessarily "better".
 
Last edited:
No, I mostly use Alfred or go directly into the Applications or Utilities folders. Sometimes I also use the Applications folder in the Dock when I am too lazy to type.
 
Don't you think that a quick pinch and click on the Trackpad is easier?
I love Launchpad.

Not if I do not use a trackpad with my desktop Mac. My 2009 MBP with trackpad, if I use it, is also used with Alfred and not the Launchpad, but then again, I only recently upgraded from Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard to OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion due to Hackintosh computers using Ivy Bridge parts and current Nvidia GPUs work better with OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion than with Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard.
 
No, I mostly use Alfred or go directly into the Applications or Utilities folders. Sometimes I also use the Applications folder in the Dock when I am too lazy to type.

Wow, I just tried this out and that's something that I really like. In windows I typically use the Start->Run to type in the program I want to run, i.e., mstsc or excel etc.

I wished apple would have incorporated this feature more then launchpad, but now I have the best of both worlds, though as I mentioned I don't use Launchpad.
 
Not if I do not use a trackpad with my desktop Mac.
Yep, Launchpad and a lot of other features are really only valid with a trackpad. It's the gestures that really make OS X post 10.6 work well. Using a mouse just doesn't do it at all.
I couldn't live without my Magic Trackpad on my desktop iMac, but obviously it all down to personal choice.
 
Wow, I just tried this out and that's something that I really like. In windows I typically use the Start->Run to type in the program I want to run, i.e., mstsc or excel etc.
I wished apple would have incorporated this feature more then launchpad, but now I have the best of both worlds, though as I mentioned I don't use Launchpad.
You can press <command><space> to bring up Spotlight, and then just type the name of the App, pressing Enter when you have a unique match. Typing also works in LaunchPad.
 
You can press <command><space> to bring up Spotlight, and then just type the name of the App, pressing Enter when you have a unique match. Typing also works in LaunchPad.

Though it is not always as accurate as Alfred, especially if you have a backup clone or two connected, as Alfred can be limited to just look into the Application folders.
It is also nice to do a quick www search when not using the browser currently, though the results are shown in a browser.
 
PErhaps not as accurate as Alfred, but that's a third-party utility, and I was showing what is already available in OS X, which seemed to be unknown to the quoted poster.

OS X offers many different ways, as said: Spotlight, Dock, Dock folders, the Finder shortcut for the Application folder, Launchpad.

If you're looking at third-party add-ons, I use Xmenu from Devon Technology, which is free. It adds various configurable menulets to the menu bar, including the Applications folder.
 
I use it all the time to launch apps not in my dock (and there's only like 7 or 8 icons in it). The 4 finger gesture makes it so easy to access :D
 
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