“which some programs do; that’s an inconsistency” – the programs that do usually can only have one window open, e.g. System Preferences, if you closed the window, what did you want to open that you expect the app to stay open?

“Sometimes I’m done with something–for now. I don’t want to put it away, I just want to put it to the side.” – this is so true. I usually have apps running in the dock with no windows all the time, even though I use an SSD.

“After all, an application need not have a window to be considered an application, but a window is always part of an application.” – and this.

“I’m a major user of keyboard shortcuts, and for me when I want to quit an application I just hit cmd+q. When I want to quit a window, cmd+w.
Shortcuts make life wonderful, don’t they? =)” – and THIS!

These points should be bolded, I think.

Thank you! So many times I’ve closed the final window on Windows or Linux and the app quits, but I just wanted to work on a new document. I then have to restart the whole app again. It’s like the new “Duplicate” function in Lion, which is much worse than “Save As” (although Versions does really mean Save As isn’t as needed as before), you have to do things ‘awkwardly’. First, I have to open the new document, then switch to the old, then close the old. It’s much easier to just close the old, open the new.

Then that reasoning is poor, because as far as metaphores go, ‘copying’ files to move them (with the additional action of pushing shift when pasting) is a metaphore with no kind of reasonable motivation.

Good for you. I’m glad to hear that you can save time and earn more by LaunchBar. I’d hire someone like you and have you do some time-consuming tasks that is very keyboard-intensive so that I can be very efficient.

2. “I used my Mom as a single case. The point stands about people not liking to do a “Where’s Waldo” to find that one app they are after among ALL the apps they have. AND you are proving my point. I’m having to go in and reconfigure the interface, or do the troubleshooting myself remotely using Remote Desktop. What we are agreeing on here is that the interface doesn’t always work. I solved the problem with LaunchBar. AND, you were not able to counter what I said about how simple it was to use.”

Yes, it’s a single case. In this specific case, to solve your or my mom’s problem as quickly as possible, having her use a keyboard is the best way, but what you are doing and I was doing before were navigating her what she wants to do by using LaunchBar. I assume she is not actually using LaunchBar besides launching apps or documents. It’s like 2/1000 of LaunchBar’s features. Troubleshooting remotely is cool if a problem is difficult to solve by themselves. But it won’t solve the problem fundamentally. It will happen again. What I’m suggesting is to educate her how to use it. By restricting functions using Parental Control, she will no way make mistakes or be confused. Tons of options make people overwhelmed and confused especially non-techy ones. This is what I learned from my customer rep experience.
Apple understands this and was very successful iPod, iPhone, iPad because they restricted options so that anyone can use and master how to use it. Even small children. Do you know many non-techy people don’t even know how to get app folder? So LaunchPad is very good solutions to solve this problem. Hitting the LaunchPad icon in the dock, you find apps like iPhone or iPad.

What you are doing is like micromanaging someone because you don’t believe they can learn. If you properly educate someone and believe them they can, they will learn and start to learn by themselves. Is it better that she can use Mac by herself? So that we can save our time and spend time more important things with her.

3.”All recent MacBooks and Pros come with a touchscreen.”
Please provide a link. I went in to an Apple store and asked for a MacBook or MacBook Pro with a touch screen, and they had NO IDEA what you are talking about because they don’t exist. There is an aftermarket company that will charge you $3000 to make your MacBook work with a stylus (not really a touch screen though).You are wrong there.”

Again. I said this “All recent MacBooks and Pros come with a touchscreen.” because of your post “LaunchPad is designed for a touch screen interface, not a mouse.”
In strict sense, trackpad is multi-touch:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multi-touch. You used the word “interface” and I mentioned using LaunchPad with a trackpad so I thought you meant that and used it in a sense of sensing surface. Obviously, you didn’t mean that. My bad.

4.“Sure, there are things you can’t do or do faster with LaunchBar.”
“Your list is missing. I don’t see it anywhere in your response. I can only assume you are mistaken here as well.”

Ok, you want me to list them.

First of all, LaunchBar can’t be used with mouse or trackpad-intensitve tasks are mostly creative tasks such as drawing, editing audio wave form or musical notes, creating a mind map and so on. Obviously, keyboards aren’t made to do these creative and subtle tasks. If you have to leave my hand off my trackpad or mouse and change to a keyboard, then it slows down my workflow.

In addition to that,

1. You can’t visually select windows.
2. You can’t eject a specific volume.
3. You can’t force quit apps while it’s opening. Especially when you accidentally open apps.
4. You can’t scroll intuitively.
5. You can’t rotate pictures intuitively. Not just rotating L/R or 180.
6. You can’t zoom intuitively.
7. You can’t move the location of widgets intuitively in Dashboard.
8. You can’t go back and forth web pages intuitively like turning pages in a book. You can see a half of the previous page and still can go back to the current page unlike the keyboard shortcut or web history search.
9. You can’t look up a word and get a summary, look up in Thesaurus, Wikipedia, foreign dictionaries like Japanese or Japanese-Engish without opening Dictionary app. These is a very important function for me when I’m writing or reading something. You can do it with a keyboard shortcut but with a gesture, it’s just double-tap a word with three fingers.

Using Gestures and Expose actually improves my productivity because without leaving my mouse or trackpad, that used to only be able to do with a keyboard.

So in no way LaunchBar can’t do those tasks or even faster.

What made you said that “There is nothing a gesture can do that LaunchBar can’t do, or do faster (that I’m aware of)”?

You don’t know anything about gestures’ useful features.

You know what, those features work in all of recent Macs. My favorite dictionary feature works in virtually any apps.

5. “Blaming the feature that you can’t make use of it is ridiculous.” I in no way did that. I pointed out flaws in design. I can make all kinds of excuses for something to exist, but bad design, is quite simply bad design.

Well, sir. By agreeing with the author’s point, you are blaming LaunchPad, I believe. Obviously, you are not using it and make use of it. LIke I said, LaunchPad isn’t for you. There is no such a thing that a feature works everybody. A point this article’s author is pointing is not a flaw. Simply, it’s not his liking or he has too many apps. Your points so-called flaws are not flaws, either. There are users who use it perfectly fine and efficiently. LaunchPad wasn’t designed for you. Other features, either. I don’t know why you don’t get it.

To finish this. You CAN NOT type a document efficiently without the keyboard.

Well, you can’t type without a keyboard whether it’s efficient or not.

You CAN NOT use Safari efficiently without the
keyboard.

Sure, you can if your task is just browsing. It’s depending on a type of tasks.

MOST input is going to be keyboard based. SOME is going to be trackpad/mouse based. I can move MOST to the keyboard and not have to use the trackpad/mouse, not wasting time, and making me more efficient. For people that do not need a keyboard, there is an iPad. For people that need a keyboard, LaunchBar (and similar programs) are more efficient. Period.

I’m happy for you that you are not wasting your time and being more efficient. If everybody falls in either people who needs a keyboard and don’t need one, that would be nice.
But I think most people need both unlike you. I’m one of them. If iPad became powerful and good enough to do creative and subtle tasks, then I move to iPad. Many people are already making a move though.

“In my opinion, being efficient means achieving maximum productivity with minimum wasted effort or expense so I choose not to spend my time and money for LaunchBar unless my task is really keyboard-intensitve.”

My time is worth $1 to $3 per MINUTE. That means I can pay for LaunchBar if I save 60 minutes (or 20 at the higher rate). Over the LIFE OF OWNING THE PRODUCT. I’m willing to bet you would save enough time using LaunchBar it would pay for itself.

Next:

I used my Mom as a single case. The point stands about people not liking to do a “Where’s Waldo” to find that one app they are after among ALL the apps they have. AND you are proving my point. I’m having to go in and reconfigure the interface, or do the troubleshooting myself remotely using Remote Desktop. What we are agreeing on here is that the interface doesn’t always work. I solved the problem with LaunchBar. AND, you were not able to counter what I said about how simple it was to use.

Next:

“All recent MacBooks and Pros come with a touchscreen.”
Please provide a link. I went in to an Apple store and asked for a MacBook or MacBook Pro with a touch screen, and they had NO IDEA what you are talking about because they don’t exist. There is an aftermarket company that will charge you $3000 to make your MacBook work with a stylus (not really a touch screen though).
You are wrong there.

Next:
“Sure, there are things you can’t do or do faster with LaunchBar.”
Your list is missing. I don’t see it anywhere in your response. I can only assume you are mistaken here as well.

Next:

“You know, people like you are right in some ways and often those people believe their experiences and reality is other people’s reality, but they are not.”

I did not know we were going to be using a Tardis or Lewis Carrols looking glass in this argument. There is only one reality I am aware of, and we all participate in it. I’m not going to go into philosophy here. I’m staying empirical, and I hope you will too.

“Blaming the feature that you can’t make use of it is ridiculous.” I in no way did that. I pointed out flaws in design. I can make all kinds of excuses for something to exist, but bad design, is quite simply bad design.

To finish this. You CAN NOT type a document efficiently without the keyboard. You CAN NOT use Safari efficiently without the keyboard. MOST input is going to be keyboard based. SOME is going to be trackpad/mouse based. I can move MOST to the keyboard and not have to use the trackpad/mouse, not wasting time, and making me more efficient. For people that do not need a keyboard, there is an iPad. For people that need a keyboard, LaunchBar (and similar programs) are more efficient. Period.