I love software that makes my life easier.  It just makes you feel good.  One thing I don’t like is scrolling through all those layers of the XP Start Menu for my commonly used programs.  Another thing I don’t like is a desktop full of shortcuts (it’s just clutter).  That’s one reason I looooove Launchy.  It’s probably the one of the most useful apps I’ve used.  Launchy allows me to hit Alt-Space and a cool, skinnable window pops up and lets me type in the command I want.  By default it includes all your programs and links in your web browser’s favorites.  You can customize it to do special folders, documents, even your mp3s.  It’s like having a shortcut to anything in one hidden place.  Plus, Launchy was just upgraded to version 2, adding a nice new interface and new features.  Search Google directly from Launchy, do simple calculations, check the weather, index all your files (like pictures, docs and music) and run custom .bat and .lnk files.  Totally customizable.

Unfortunately, I think Vista has it in for Launchy (in an indirect way).  Vista’s  start menu allows you to search through your programs directly from it, rather than going through all the levels of folders in XP.  While the Vista menu doesn’t allow you to customize much, it is a quick launch for all your apps and some links.  And why press Alt-Space when you can hit the Windows key?  Plus I found some software for XP that emulates Vista’s Start menu: ViStart [via Lifehacker].  It adds the cool transparency of Vista without taking up too many resources.  It’s fairly customizable – you have access to all the images used in the menu and the XML file that controls the menu links.

These programs weren’t really meant to compete with each other, but spill into each others functionality.  So far,my assessment is that if you just need a simple program launcher, either one will work great.  Both give you a different look with some transparency options/eye-candy.  If you want a more complete and flexible solution, go with Launchy.