KDE’s Plasma Desktop has a web search plugin that I use all the time. Typing the Win (Super) key followed by wp:Sistine Chapel and then the Enter key brings me straight to the Wikipedia entry on the Sistine Chapel. imdb:Jurassic Park brings me to the IMDb page for Jurassic Park. yt: will search YouTube, and so on. There are around 200 keywords pre-programmed into it, including for searching programming language documentation. Unlike the Windows feature displayed here, it doesn’t use the network unless you specify a prefix and it accesses only the service you specify by the keyword. Whoever added this feature had to do so very little work compared to the payoff. It just takes the part after the colon and inserts it into a search URL for the corresponding service and opens that URL in the browser. It’s very convenient. None of this web search stuff comes up when you’re just searching for apps and there are no surprises.
Even macos spotlight knows to prioritize system apps over web searches and such. Iirc it’s like if the query exists as a system app that will be the top result, if two system apps share the query the most recent result selected will win (eg typed “ter” and last used terminal that will be the autocomplete and top choice but if you also have an app called like terminex or something you can down key to it), and web results are only if queries have no match in the spotlight db for files, contacts, etc (which would be in the match list after system apps. I don’t know what the hierarchy is but there is one iirc). So if you type in “phantom menace” and have no apps, files, contacts, etc matching that it’ll prompt to query google.
What you describe is far greater in functionality (and of course spotlight doesnt have plugin support, though it can be outright replaced at least (for now)) but it’s absolutely insane microsoft is going this way with ad nonsense. It’s just disrespectful and greedy. Who is even left using desktop OS anymore? It’s like power users and office workers. The power users are gonna switch to linux or m series macbooks (which doesn’t rule out linux). So is this just a play to get the administrative assistants and other office drones of the world to become a captive audience they can sell?
I like that if I type an application (the main reason I type in that window) that I don’t have yet, rather than some nonsense like this it gives me a shortcut to the application IN the package manager.
Yeah, as far as i’m concerned that’s about the only acceptible thing to have come up that isn’t an application you already have. If I want internet results or files, I’d be using the appropriate browser for those.
KDE’s Plasma Desktop has a web search plugin that I use all the time. Typing the Win (Super) key followed by
wp:Sistine Chapeland then the Enter key brings me straight to the Wikipedia entry on the Sistine Chapel.imdb:Jurassic Parkbrings me to the IMDb page for Jurassic Park.yt:will search YouTube, and so on. There are around 200 keywords pre-programmed into it, including for searching programming language documentation. Unlike the Windows feature displayed here, it doesn’t use the network unless you specify a prefix and it accesses only the service you specify by the keyword. Whoever added this feature had to do so very little work compared to the payoff. It just takes the part after the colon and inserts it into a search URL for the corresponding service and opens that URL in the browser. It’s very convenient. None of this web search stuff comes up when you’re just searching for apps and there are no surprises.Even macos spotlight knows to prioritize system apps over web searches and such. Iirc it’s like if the query exists as a system app that will be the top result, if two system apps share the query the most recent result selected will win (eg typed “ter” and last used terminal that will be the autocomplete and top choice but if you also have an app called like terminex or something you can down key to it), and web results are only if queries have no match in the spotlight db for files, contacts, etc (which would be in the match list after system apps. I don’t know what the hierarchy is but there is one iirc). So if you type in “phantom menace” and have no apps, files, contacts, etc matching that it’ll prompt to query google.
What you describe is far greater in functionality (and of course spotlight doesnt have plugin support, though it can be outright replaced at least (for now)) but it’s absolutely insane microsoft is going this way with ad nonsense. It’s just disrespectful and greedy. Who is even left using desktop OS anymore? It’s like power users and office workers. The power users are gonna switch to linux or m series macbooks (which doesn’t rule out linux). So is this just a play to get the administrative assistants and other office drones of the world to become a captive audience they can sell?
Yes but this doesn’t generate ad revenue!
/S
Doesn’t anyone think about shareholders!?!!1!
I like that if I type an application (the main reason I type in that window) that I don’t have yet, rather than some nonsense like this it gives me a shortcut to the application IN the package manager.
Yeah, as far as i’m concerned that’s about the only acceptible thing to have come up that isn’t an application you already have. If I want internet results or files, I’d be using the appropriate browser for those.
KRunner is awesome