EDIT: Just to be clear, because I missed it, the app doesn't HIDE other applications it <i>aggressively</i> CLOSES other apps. Including some background processes, system preferences etc. Luckily it doesn't shutdown dropbox and backblaze. If you want that functionality (and can live with bug below) this might be useful to you but I'm no longer interested.<p>So, the app crashed while I was configuring it. It shutdown ever app I had added to Foreman, unsafely, and a few others I hadn't yet added (like Terminal! WTF?).<p>DO NOT USE. It's a nice concept but not ready for prime time.
I like the idea and congratulations on your first app. My only criticism about the landing page are some of the superlatives put me off slightly (e.g. Foreman Switches Your Apps Quickly _and It's Amazing_) -- I wonder if other people got the same feeling?<p>Perhaps I don't have a sense of humour when I'm at work.
Cool. If you are going to head towards a CLI version, consider a name change though. Foreman is also the name of a very popular CLI based web development tool (<a href="https://github.com/ddollar/foreman" rel="nofollow">https://github.com/ddollar/foreman</a>)
I think it's a great idea! It definitely has issues, but keep at it because it's a great start. Here's another feature idea: when I'm using xcode, i don't want other distraction to come in; so maybe find a way to make it harder for me to open browsers and other distraction (i see you, hn & reddit).
I tried using it on OSX 10.8.1 but I can't seem to get it to work. It doesn't let me drop anything into the box where it says "Drag Apps Here To Create New Group"? It just does the typical "delete from dock" <i>poof</i> animation.
I really like this app. My current way of doing this is keeping everything inside Launchpad folders and opening them individually. Foreman seems to solve this daily issue.<p>My only real suggestion is that you change the text on the right side:<p><pre><code> Click on an app group and Foreman closes all apps not in that group and opens the apps in the group.
</code></pre>
To something simpler, like:<p><pre><code> One click to Launch all Grouped Apps & Close everything else!</code></pre>
Another way to save app-switching sanity: Get 9 or 10 work spaces. Set up command+number keyboard shortcuts to switch to that number. Use a single app on every workspace. Scales well to 10 or so apps open simultaneously.<p>Basically, I configured OSX to imitate XMonad to some extent. It's not as good, but it works and is a lot better than using the mouse or command-tab.
Looks like fun, and I'll have a play in a while.<p>A couple of things from the top of my head; Alfred integration would be cool, currently I keep nothing in my dock (other than finder and trash) and launch everything via Alfred, being able to launch a group by name in Alfred might be cool.<p>On switching groups, when it's choosing what to close, does it only close app's that are explicitly listed in other groups? How does it cope with tray apps like dropbox?
When I (infrequently) fire up Steam/games I tend to manually kill off a few of the background servicey apps like dropbox I'd otherwise leave running all day.
Very cool, looking forward to trying it out.<p>I would start versioning your releases—even if you start at something like 0.1.0. Then add a changelog to the site and drop tags in git corresponding to each release.
Wow, great idea!<p>I haven't tried the app yet, but if it immediately shuts off other applications when switching to a group, I think that needs to change, or at least provide a setting to just keep all the apps running but hide them from the tab switching menu some how (i know it could be a memory killer, but for my own personal use, which usually doesn't require a lot of apps running, i think it would be perfect).<p>Other than that, it's a great little app, put it on the AppStore for some cash :) (and add a screencast)
Love the idea. Congrats on launching.<p>I've tried a number of apps to manage OSX's clunky alt+tab, but none have worked out long term.<p>The only thing that keeps me from trying Foreman is the "closing" of other apps. Like many other users here, just because I want apps out of the way, doesn't mean I want them closed. Is there no way to filter them from the task list instead?<p>You do make it clear on the site that Foreman closes apps, but I did come back to HN to confirm via the comments.
This is great. I'm excited for the CL version so I can integrate it with Alfred.<p>By the way, I knew exactly what this app did 2 seconds after page load.<p>Cheers.
The concept is really awesome and I'm excited about what the app could turn into. My suggestions would be to fix the force closing issues, and to turn this into a taskbar style app which stays opened all the time, instead of having to open/close every time you want to switch to a different environment. Also, a more polished ui/ux would be apreciated, I don't like the way you add apps to the group. But for starters, good freaking job.
I've always wanted to write a Ruby app launcher, like QuickSilver but the language the end user uses is Ruby. So you could define sets of apps like web_dev = [:macvim, :chrome, :iterm], and then web_dev.launch to launch them.<p>This app tackles that aspect of my launcher, and makes me wonder if my launcher idea is even necessary. Maybe this app is enough. I'm looking forward to it maturing some more (based on other comments)
I've been looking for a way to solve that exact problem for a long time. I'm not 100% sure this is going to improve my current workflow though. Will try...
Very nice app. I would add the possibility to drag from the dock and a group for never closing apps (such as mail or browser).<p>Many thanks for sharing on github. BTW, would you consider using a well known license (e.g. GPL or MIT)?
I'd add some good use-cases for this. They're outlined in the screenshot and the blurb next to it, but a couple paragraphs below the fold going over your workflow would provide a more illustrative example.
i guess i'm doing it wrong, but dragging any app from dock or /applications does not work. icons just zip back to where i dragged them from. snow leopard 10.6.8. :/
Get rid of the text as much as you seem to love it. The screenshot already explains everything.<p>All you need is one screenshot. One download button. One donate button. One mention that it's free.