cornexo

I’ve been using Sapiens from Donelleschi, the same folks that make StickyWindows, for the past few days. My initial impressions are mixed.

The mouse “gesture” is an innovative feature but I find it a bit cumbersome. More than once I had to circle around as if I was lost at the Arc de Triomphe. Once it activated the presentation was simple enough. Click or drop what you are dragging on the icon of choice.

But what happens if the application you want doesn’t show up? Well, you are supposed to use the built-in search, ala QuickSilver, which is just what the developers say they are trying to avoid since “Sapiens was created because we recognize that users are tired of launching applications by typing (whether by using Spotlight or any other keyboard-based launcher).” So now I do have to remove my hand from my mouse to type. Hmmm. That is the drawback to smart applications…sometimes they aren’t smart when you want them to be.

It claims to learn from how you use your computer to present you the best choice of application. This feature alone was my main reason to try this software. I have always been fascinated by intelligent applications. Maybe I didn’t let it learn for long enough. It never seemed to have the right application showing.

While it is an interesting way of launching applications, right-clicking and using Open With seems much quicker to me. I am a user of QuickSilver and don’t see Sapiens taking its place.

On the topic of interesting menu interfaces…I rather like the one in SketchBook Pro.

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