Quicksilver vs Alfred

So if you're like me, you're a long-time Quicksilver user who think that its noun-verb-noun model rules the world. In some cases, the first noun can be an action/script, so practically, the model expands into a verb or verb-noun model. And with the ability to assign keyboard shortcuts to any manifestation of the model and the ability to assign gestures to any key combination, the possibilities become endless.

Alfred is a relatively new player in this arena of "launcher apps". Its been in my radar for awhile, but really, how can I possibly move away from the awesomeness of the Quicksilver model. One day however, I find myself purchasing its Powerpack features (I really have no idea why), so now I'm forced to give it a good spin (money has been invested!).

Having used Alfred for a good two weeks, I must say, it feels faster than Quicksilver and I'm liking its different approach. Using Alfred is a little like using Mozilla's Ubiquity, albeit not as elaborate or powerful. The idea is however similar: you get one text box to enter your query and Alfred acts on that query depending on the syntax. So you could make Alfred work like the Safari Omnibar and type "g [query]" to search Google with [query]. And you can add query shortcuts for all your frequently-used sites: Wikipedia, Google Images, imdb, Rotten Tomatoes, etc. I've even added a shortcut to Google's I'm Feeling Lucky so typing "lq [site]" will take me directly to the site.

More than that these Omnibar-like shortcuts, Alfred is extensible just like Quicksilver. You can hook-up any old Apple Script, Shell Script, etc to Alfred and have it run the script [keyword] with [query] whenever you type like so "[keyword] [query]". There's already a tonne of extensions written for Alfred, all ready for your free shopping. You can also use scripts as Alfred actions so you can run them on selected files / folders, instead of a query string.

So in summary, I think that whatever you want / can do in Quicksilver can be done just as simply in Alfred. The difference is subtle and subjective. Alfred may look aesthetically better for some people, but that could just be the new leather smell thats clouding your judgement. We can't know for sure without a proper A/B testing on an unbiased population sample. The real difference is in their execution models. In most cases, while Quicksilver  makes you think of a noun first, Alfred makes you think of a verb first. Which model is better really depends on the user, preference / comfort, and a fair comparison after prolonged use. For me, I'm sticking with Alfred or at least until the new leather smell wears off.