> To me, pressing the Start key on my keyboard and typing the first few letters of literally anything I want to do on my system is the most important UX component of Windows 8 & 8.1.
Agreed. It's something Spotlight has been incredibly successful at on OS X, and I'm surprised more Mac users don't hit Cmd + Space.
But then again, I'm also not surprised. It seems to me that the vast majority of users prefer a mouse or finger to typing on a keyboard, and when a search bar is not the main feature of an application, it goes unused. I know people who search for "gmail" on the Google homepage rather than clicking the header bar link, because the search bar is so prominently the focus.
Agreed. It's something Spotlight has been incredibly successful at on OS X, and I'm surprised more Mac users don't hit Cmd + Space.
But then again, I'm also not surprised. It seems to me that the vast majority of users prefer a mouse or finger to typing on a keyboard, and when a search bar is not the main feature of an application, it goes unused. I know people who search for "gmail" on the Google homepage rather than clicking the header bar link, because the search bar is so prominently the focus.