Quicksilver alternatives for Linux

Everyone loves Quicksilver. If you don't know what it is, shame on you and you can't call your self a geek. In either case, you should check out this Google Tech Talk on Quicksilver by its creator.

While Quicksilver rules supreme as the king of universal access and action applications, what are Linux users supposed to do? Sit back and watch in painful agony as Mac users the world over gloat smugly with their shiny little toys? Hell no! I'm going to tell you about some Quicksilver alternatives (probably not as good though) for Linux. There do exist some alternatives for Windows as well, but that's not the focus of this article.

GNOME Do

GNOME Do is a fairly recent entry in this already crowded space. Here is a screencast that shows Do in action. It is being actively developed (and hopefully that continues!) by David Siegel, a CS student at UPenn. The interface and features seem to highly inspired by Quicksilver, which I think is a great thing. Now if only it wasn't so tied into GNOME. See my wish list later in the post.

From the website:

GNOME Launchbox

GNOME Launchbox is a slightly older effort (and one of the inspirations for GNOME Do). It was started by some developers at Imendio but seems to have fizzled out after an initial burst of activity. The interface is again very Quicksilver-ish.

From the website:

Katapult

Katapult started it's life as an application on
KDE Apps around an year back. Since then it has
shifted it's home a few times, finally landing up on kde.org as an “official”
project.

From the KDE-Apps page:

Of all the applications mentioned thus far, I really only have used Katapult
and that too not a whole lot. But over all my experience has not been that
great. I mean it's nice as an application launcher (and even then it is
sometimes quite slow), but I didn't find much use for anything else
(calculator?!). Also, it didn't play (and I don't think it still does) well
with Compiz and friends (read ugly display).

Deskbar Applet

This is another GNOME centric application, probably the least inspired by
Quicksilver in terms of design and interface. I guess you could say it is more
like Spotlight in some respects.

From the website:

A new kid on the block, the “KRunner” application in the upcoming KDE4 release promises to be a better replacement for Katapult and the current KDE Run dialog. Unfortunately there is no single web page I can point to, and screenshots are spread all over the place. Besides, it is still very much in development and while I have toyed with it a little bit in my KDE 4 session, I really haven't used it seriously.

WISH LIST

So finally, here is my wish list:

• As with most applications in Linux, there is an initial outburst of applications to satisfy similar needs and user requirements. This confounds a lot of new users. Eventually, over time, one or two applications emerge victorious (there are exceptions, of course) but this is a gradual process of absorption, refinement and elimination. I would really love to see a single (or may be two at most) application combining the best technologies at hand (say GNOME Do, and KDE4 Krunner)
• Imitation is the best form of flattery: Quicksilver has gotten to where it is only with extensive community feedback. The model, plugins and user interface it has is PROVEN to work. Don't try to reinvent the wheel. Steal concepts where possible and relevant! I can't wait for the day when I will be able to brag about my increase in productivity because of this! Or be able to operate my entire work flow using a single interface: universal access and control baby!