Tech Blog

[#1]

Are you using Launchpad and Mission Control? At the June 6th WWDC keynote about OS X Lion, those were two of the “breakthrough” features that users were supposed to be excited about, but have they lived up to their promise? While I’ve customized Launchpad so my key apps are handy and I assigned F5 to launch it—I don’t use it too often. Mission Control? Yeah I use it about as often as I used Exposé (which means not very often). So did Apple miss the mark or are we just missing something?

Computer users are always looking for easier ways to do things. Okay, maybe not your uncle who still types yahoo.com in the Google search bar to get to his Yahoo! homepage or your mom who searches for “Facebook login”, but for the rest of us, finding faster and easier was to do things is just part of using computers. Early on OS X had Exposé and Spaces for managing windows and virtual desktops. Both of these have been combined into Mission Control under OS X Lion, and okay, it all looks cooler than the previous versions, I’m still not sold.

Virtual desktops?

Try as I might, I can’t get into them. I have two monitors so I have a lot of space to work with I also minimize windows or just quit applications that are getting in the way of the task at hand. I just don’t need to be jumping around between desktops.

Launchpad seemed like a good idea. Take the idea of the iOS homescreen and put it on screen. Sure I can use that to launch apps that I need, but after years of using Quicksilver and now Alfred I’m used to hitting command-spacebar and start typing what I need to launch. Takes moments and I don’t have to look for anything. How many times (regardless of its iOS, Blackberry, or Android) have searched for a particular app on your device? Staring at the screen and you just can see it. I’ve even started to use the Search function in iOS to launch apps (cause you know I have tons of apps on both devices) because I can’t always remember which folder I put them in.

Launchpad optically works for me. It looks great. It actually works really well as well, it just isn’t as fast as Alfred. I don’t even think it’s a habit thing. I tried to focus on using the new features of Lion (yep even “natural scrolling”) for the first few days, but I only use Launchpad through conscious thought.

So where did Apple miss the boat?

First off, I don’t think Mission Control misses the boat. I do use it to jump between windows sometimes. I’m just not a fan of the virtual desktop. I’ve found that Mission Control (and before it Exposé) was a great way to find lost Finder copy progress windows or “Upgrade and relaunch” windows that got buried in the mix of things (and don’t appear by bringing an app to the front).

Launchpad, like natural scrolling, was a good experiment in trying to bring some great features of iOS into the desktop environment. The thing is that the vertical screen controlled with a keyboard and mouse presents a completely different user paradigm than holding even an iPad. Don’t believe me? Okay, put an iPad (or any tablet) in a stand so it’s more like a screen and connect a keyboard to it (like the Apple Wireless keyboard). I’ll bet that within a few minutes you’ll forget you’re using a tablet a you’ll start reaching for a mouse. Not only that, touching the screen to do, change, or move things seems awkward and strange. Now if you just have the table flat and use the virtual keyboard … none of the awkwardness appears. touching the screen becomes natural again.

I’d opine that the Launchpad might look great, but doesn’t work as an application launcher because a) it’s a little laggy—when I want an app, I want it now—and b) we want to touch the screen to launch things, but can’t. Maybe over time I’ll get used to Launchpad. Maybe if I decide to use it exclusively for a day over Alfred, I might have a change of heart, but my gut tells me that Launchpad will always remain a cool thing to jump to sometimes, but not a great way to launch an app.

I think in the near future someone will find a hack or switch to disable Launchpad (just like the savvy among us disable the Dashboard) and in the next big OS X jump Launchpad will become optional or just replaced entirely. While trying to bring some of the great parts of iOS to OS X is cool—I love autosave, versions, and full screen apps—there will always be some things that only work in a tablet or handheld device just like there will always be somethings that only work on the desktop.