ASM brings back the application switcher (and more) to Mac OS X

Originally downloaded 12/21/06. I’ve seen ASM before, but always assumed that it’s major drawing card was as a menubar-based application switcher. As such, it’s not anything I need, since Apple’s switcher, in the form of LiteSwitch, has been great for me. However, hidden on the advanced preference pane is a bit of power that might be worth trying out. Might not, since such power comes at the cost of a more complex, customized setup. But here’s the thing: I use “single application mode (SAM),” which most users have never heard of, to keep my desktop tidy. In SAM, each application hides when another is activated, so you never have more than one application in view at a time (unless you override this by holding the shift key while you switch apps). LiteSwitch can turn it on, but it does so globally. With ASM, you can set separate SAM options for any application you like. So, for example, if you never want Safari to hide when you switch to another app, you can specify that in the ASM advanced preferences. In this way, ASM provides the same sort of SAM power I had when using DragThing, which was my first experience with SAM. Question is, do I really need this, and do I want to pay $15 for it? ASM installs a preference pane, which controls the appearance of the menubar item and its menu. The menu, by the way, is identical to the basic functionality of FruitMenu, including its ability to show all the preference panes of System Preferences.

Version as tested: 2.1.7.