Before answering the question “why Speed Launch?” thanks for trying it out!  If you haven’t yet we hope you test drive Speed Launch soon. 

Speed Launch is the work of me, Matt Dyor, a patent attorney working with Microsoft’s Server and Tools Business, and David Craig, a support escalation engineer with Microsoft Office Delta Force team.  Our unlikely duo found each other when I tried out one of David’s past projects, the Magic Folder, and contacted David with a bunch of new ideas.

It might surprise you that we aren’t software developers in our day jobs.  Working on Speed Launch has been a fun hobby for us. David and I have enjoyed being creative and getting to share our ideas with other Microsoft employees. We are even more excited to hear what people outside Microsoft think of Speed Launch.

Speed Launch has satisfied a personal itch for each of us: we wanted to get to the things we used faster and with less frustration.  We thought we could build a light weight and easily customizable tool that helps people be more productive. 

Speed Launch lets you open anything you use frequently in seconds.  Just take the “thing” (document, program, or website), drop it on the bull’s eye, and then give it a name that appeals to you.  To open it any time later hit “Windows Key + C” and the launch window will open. You just type the name and hit enter.  It’s that simple. 

There are actually many other tools that serve a similar purpose – Wikipedia has a great comparison of many of the “application launchers” that you can find here.  We are hoping that Speed Launch’s use of the drag and drop interaction model will make this powerful functionality more intuitive to everyone, especially new users. If it does or doesn’t please let us know!

We have kept Speed Launch pretty basic, both because of the limited resources we have and because we want to see where we should invest our energy based on what people (e.g., you) want. If you have an idea for something you would like to see, please suggest it and maybe we’ll find a weekend to build it.  If you want to try an application with more functionality and a different interaction model check out ActiveWords (www.activewords.com) or SlickRun (www.bayden.com/SlickRun).  SlickRun was created by a fellow Microsoftie, Eric Lawrence, when he was in college.

Finally, I want to say thanks to the folks at Office Labs. When David and I met with Office Labs, we had a good idea and a decent prototype. Office Labs not only gave us some key developer and program manager support, but they also gave us a framework to get our project out to the public where we can see what people like (and what they don’t). A special thanks to Joe Coplen and Quinn Hawkins for all their hard work.

We’re excited for you to give Speed Launch a try and look forward to your feedback!

Thanks,

Matt