I also use LaunchBar, but DragThing is totally different. I have a DragThing dock with eight tabs, each for a different category, and it's much faster to find my commonly used apps than by using Launchbar or Spotlight.

One reason it's faster is you just have to look at the icon. You don't need to remember the name, and then type it in.

I think they are all useful, and can be used together.

I think set correctly launch bar is faster. The IA that drag thing allows on info you know very well is not really needed. Even on web sites once you know what you want you search over drill. Depends if your the guy that hunts the shop by category or asks an assistant for something you want to find. Personal behaviour for me is to ask and search but YMMV as I know some people do love this app.

Well as I said, I use Launchbar a good part of the time, but for certain things I use DragThing. I have DT well organized with my most often used apps.

Some apps I keep in the Dock. And then for everything else I'll use SpotLight, which often requires patience while you are waiting for it to stop searching every letter you type. I find SpotLight often misses things as well.

Sticking with DT. I have everything organized in a DT Dock with 24 tabs. Plus I still use Snow Leopard more than Lion.

@Corpsecorps, it works great in Lion. I'm on Lion and use DragThing daily. I also use Launchpad for certain things, and still use LaunchBar for others. But like you, I have DT organized in categories; music apps, web apps, utilities, video/DVD apps, games, etc. Since when I'm working in a category I often use more than one app, there are all there. I can launch four or five apps much faster with DT than with LaunchBar, etc. ;)

Oh yeah your right multi launching this is good for that good point. But if you use the new lion features it remembers your apps on reboot now.

You guys are so Information Architect organised lol your all in computing I guess for work right? You just have to have that orginisation. ;) Bet your desktops are spotless not a file needing filed in site. :p

Me I am lazy my desktop is a mess and I just want to swipe a gesture see launch bar type a few letters and launch. I even like launchpad as I like iOS stuff.

I guess this app is more popular than I thought since there is a lot of people saying they like it even when they own launchbar!

I just prefer the lazy way I own DT but I don't use it now....

I use my Mac for a lot of stuff besides work, so having it organized helps. My desktop is a mess, and currently has 104 items on it! When it gets too cluttered they go into a "desktop clutter" folder until I can decide what to do with them. I have about four of those folders now.

I generally prevent Lion from launching apps and windows I had open the last time. I'm not looking for that. Plus, I have a big USB drive attached to my Airport basestation, and that has has to mount before I launch some apps.

I started using DT back in OS 8 days, and it was one of the first things I installed on OS X when it became available. I have it as a drawer on the right side of my screen.

I too use both LaunchBar and DragThing and I don't think of them as tools in the same category. To me it's like comparing Finder and Spotlight. I wouldn't want to operate my Mac without either one of them.

Besides, I use DragThing to control my background processes via its "Process Dock." It's great for turning on and off some optional background processes and daemons not showing up in Apple Dock. This way, I don't have to put *everything* I might want to use in Login Items. It also works great as drag-and-drop filing shelves. I keep my desktop clean this way. Sure I could use Finder but properly configured DragThing is far less steps for me to file things away.

Lion's LaunchPad is fine so long as the number of your apps is relatively small. I have to use many software and LaunchPad is a mess. It doesn't let me drag-drop-launch like DragThing does, either. I can build "muscle memory" of where everything is when I use DragThing.

In fact I've tried different approaches including operating without LaunchBar and DragThing at least several times, only to end up adding both of them back after a few frustrating weeks without them. It's that simple and obvious to me at this point.

@Jp3421, I agree. For background processes that I might want to quit, I use Activity Monitor, which is always open.

For LaunchPad, you can drag applications around to reorder them, so the ones you want the most are on the first couple of tabs. You can also use apps like LaunchpadCleaner to remove stuff you don't want on it.

I use these various launches in order of most used apps. The Dock is first, with 12 most commonly used apps. Then I use DT, as a sliding drawer on the right side of my screen with 8 tabs in categories.

Next would be LaunchBar for apps I don't use as often, like Firefox. But I also use it to launch Photoshop, even though it's in my DT dock. Depends on my mood.

Lastly, I use Spotlight for seldom used apps.

So far I only use LaunchPad to get to the system preferences, even tough it's in the Apple menu!

@Davidravenmoon

Thanks for the tips. Yes, I like using multiple launchers and use all of them in different contexts.

Oh, and I also use DragThing for keeping snippets of code for some development stuff, and some "check it out later" kind of temporary bookmarks I don't want to permanently bookmark in Safari but still want to keep them for on-going stuff. And I often select multiple icons in DT dock and launch all of them at the same time. Faster than launching one app at a time in LaunchBar in that scenario.

Sometimes, I find things in LaunchBar and then drag and drop from there to DragThing dock. They don't compete on my Mac. They complement each other on it.

DragThing is very versatile and it makes desktop workflow so much better. Strongly recommended!

@p3421, yes, I forget to mention text clippings and text files, as well as URLs and other documents.

You can try it there http://orbiter.fr.uptodown.com/mac

No Longer free. it's $0.99 @ the MAS.

No surprise to anyone that has used this app for any time at all is the fact that the developer very quickly emailed me as to how, with a couple clicks and an Apple script that he provided, I could restore the ability to scroll to change Dock layers in DragThing.

Great app and superb tech support!!

Thanks James.