Open applications

[griffman]

So how about it ... how hard do you push your OS X box? What's an average workload based on number of open applications at any given time?

Size and complexity of the application is irrelevant - just how many do you leave open on an average basis?

-rob.

[rw]

I thought, "What an interesting bimodal distribution: half the respondents said 6-10, and half said 20+". After pondering for a while what that might mean, I noticed that only two people had responded. *sigh* More evidence that education just made me stupid. Or was I just born that way?

Anyway, I think you may have to re-do your poll to include responses like 30+ and 40+, for the real "power users". I'm the one who said 20+, and I got that figure by just counting the little black triangles on my Dock. There are 24, and I don't get the sense that I'm "pushing it". I just never turn anything off. Heck, if I didn't have to reboot every week or so for some silly reason or another, I'd probably have all my apps open.

[griffman]

I added a couple more categories for ya ;-).

-rob.

[level9]

I see no reason to quit anything, so I just keep *everything* open...just about. My load is almost always between 1.50-190, I run SETI constantly (text-only and SetiDockling, renice -10).

[saint.duo]

around 11-20

let's see here... IE, Entourage, iTunes, Terminal, text edit, prefs, oculus, aim, icq, bbedit, graphic converter, ircle, carracho, manopen. At least those, give or take one or two, plus anything special I'm working on at the time. (like interface builder, project builder, realbasic, etc)

[melg]

Let's see, (I'm not at home now so this is from memory, which is getting worse day by day:) )...

PhotoShop, terminal, Textedit, mail, omniweb, sytem prefs, brickhouse (sometimes), ... hmmm, not as many as I thought.

[Phil St. Romain]

Man alive! Someone actually voted for 30 +

Cool! :cool:

[peepster]

Perhaps my vote shouldn't count... I have an iBook which I switch off after each session so my open apps never mount up, although I'm tempted to open a load and see what happens.

[AHunter3]

Well, I voted "6 to 10" but that's not under MacOS X, that's under MacOS 8.6 and 9.

Under MacOS X, I tend to run more (including many that under MacOS 8/9 would be extensions rather than apps, such as X-Assist)...let's see...yeah, closer to 15 or 20 on average under MacOS X.

[Trip]

I'm just going to post what I currently have open right now as I speak:

Finder
System Prefs
Portai X BETA
AOL
Mail
Internet Explorer
Transmit
Frogblast
Carracho
Carracho Server
Audion
iMovie
iTunes
iPhoto
Photoshop BETA
Avi2Mov
iView MediaPro
PixelNhance
TextEdit
Icon Machine III
REALbasic
Script Editor
Mac OS X Features Guide
Stuffit Expander
Terminal
NetInfo Manager
MP3 Rage
Quicktime Player
Sherlock
Navigator X BETA
NailMail X

So...I dunno. On my SE 466 iBook it does seem like a bit much...maybe I should quit a few. :P

[Marcwic]

AOL
ITUNES
WORD (CLASSIC)
XL
FIRE/MSN
APPLE WORKS
CPU MONITOR
PROSESS VIEWER
PREVIEW
PALM DESKTOP


not including processes!

[TommyWillB]

I was testing some VM swapping stuff, and here (http://www.jeffntom.com/misc/public/osx_com/EverythingOpen.jpg) is the resulting screen shot of almost everything open...

:D

[icenw]

i run as few as possable :)

i'm still useing it like os9 so i tend to quit everything, right now i have 3 but that includes finder :)

[loren_ryter]

well, do you mean applications or processes?

I have 17 applications showing in the dock, but top lists 75 processes, 71 of which are currently sleeping and 1 zombie.

so how do i answer the questoin?

[honestpuck]

I'm with Loren.

I just did a count and I've got my usual 12 suspects open in the dock.

Then do I count the fact that I'm editing one database in my web browser while building another in another browser window and surfing the net in a third as 1 application or 3? How about the fourth browser window with the Open Source CVS book in HTML?

I've got fink running in one terminal window, top in another, a third open for CVS commits and updates from Sourceforge and a fourth running ssh to a web server. Hang on there's a fifth there today running the perl CPAN module and a sixth running my latest version of Hoc.

So what do we call an application? With this OS I tend to overload a single application like the terminal and web browser like crazy. I no longer run FileMaker as all my database stuff is using MySQL, Apache, PHP and PHPMyAdmin through a web browser and the shell. I no longer run a terminal emulator as I use ssh in a Terminal window. I no longer use a news client for the same reason.

Heck, I'll just call it 20+

Tony

[taikahn]

16 Real Apps....

49 Processes

Word to Mac OS X.


4 days uptime only because of a reboot for last weeks security update....

[dschep]

I Voted 6-11

Apps

Finder
Mail
Mozilla
Adium
Graphic Converter
System prefs
iTunes
Desktop Calender

9 Menu extras

51 total processes in top

[djn1]

Excel
Audion 3
OmniWeb
Explorer
Entourage
Word
System Preferences
@time
Console
Desktop Console
LaunchBar
What’s Next
DragThing
Internet connect
Mail
QuicKeys
Shadow Google
Speed Download
Super Get Information
Terminal
Vanity Dockling
Virex
iPhoto

Those are the ones I have open at the moment to which I sometimes add PowerPoint, SpeakPad, BBEdit, and CopyCalendar and various others. I have have various background processes running. And I still have 65Mb free ;-)

[derekhed]

I started all the applications in my Applications directory, which doesn't include all of my Utilities. So right now I have 73 applications running, including such biggies as PhotoShop, iMovie, Painter, Illustrator, Freehand, and the entire Microsoft Office suite. The dock is the entire length of my 1600 window, and getting smaller.

You know, it does seem to slow my machine down a bit... :p :p