# 🔗 Launchers and me

- Author: @gurupanguji
- Date: 2026-05-02
- URL: https://gurupanguji.com/blog/2026/05/02/launchers-and-me/
- Categories: link
- Tags: quotes

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> So I turned off LaunchBar and began using Spotlight exclusively. It sucked. I hung on that long only because I kept thinking, “Surely it’s going to improve as it learns my habits.” It didn’t. It was unbearably slow when I started using it, and it was still unbearably slow when I finally decided to pull the plug on it yesterday.
> 
> How slow? Finding files and folders—even files and folders that I had been searching for and opening for a few days—typically took several seconds (yes, s…e…v…e…r…a…l seconds). Finding and launching apps with Spotlight was much faster, but even that had a noticeable delay. You may remember that Quicksilver was so-named because it was *quick*—so are LaunchBar and Alfred. Spotlight, despite being a system feature, is not.
> 
> So I’m back to LaunchBar. A [new release](https://obdev.at/products/launchbar/releasenotes.html) came out during my Spotlight experiment, which was heartening, as I’ve been worried about LaunchBar’s continued viability as a product. I upgraded and reindexed my system (which took only a few seconds), and it feels like I’m back at my Mac again.

*Source:* [Launchers and me](https://leancrew.com/all-this/2026/04/launchers-and-me/)

There's a reason why I find the crowd of old Mac users (like me) a delightful read. There are some neuroses that can never be discussed enough. Launchers squarely fall into that category - like text editors and task management systems. 

Like Dr Drang, I also terribly miss [Quicksilver](https://qsapp.com/) (please don't download) and I am closely following [Tuna](https://gurupanguji.com/blog/2026/02/26/tuna-a-modal-launcher-for-mac-os/) to see if it's a replacement.

However, looks like the new Spotlight in Tahoe is definitely _not it_. Looks like its biggest proponent, [Jason Snell](https://sixcolors.com/post/2026/04/im-switching-back-from-spotlight-at-least-for-now/) is also back on [Launchbar](https://www.obdev.at/products/launchbar/index.html). 

Personally, I've never really gelled with Launchbar and after dabbling with [Raycast](https://raycast.com), I've settled back into [Alfred](https://alfredapp.com), which continues to be where my muscle memory works best. I also really have a ton of Alfred workflows that work just the way I want it to on my Mac. 

If you also love reading people nerd out about launchers, you might be interested in reading [Alfred vs Raycast](https://gurupanguji.com/blog/2026/03/08/the-business-of-software-alfred-vs-raycast/).