Creator Codes Return to Snow Leopard

Pagehand has announced the release of LaunchCodes 1.0, an application that restores the creator code functionality that Apple dropped with OS X 10.6. With LaunchCodes, Snow Leopard users can once again double-click on files and have them open in the application that created them, rather than a default application determined by the file extension.

"LaunchCodes does not hack your system or modify any system files," said Pagehand CEO Ross Carter. "It's a tiny application that uses no CPU when it is in the background and consumes very little memory. Just take a moment to set the preferences to your liking, and from then on you can double-click on files with extensions like .jpg, .txt., and .css and get the same application-choosing behavior that Mac users have enjoyed for many years."

Many long-time Mac users have been frustrated with the way Snow Leopard opens files based on the file extension, rather than the application that created the file. In his Daring Fireball blog John Gruber wrote, "Snow Leopard, effectively, gives us the file-to-application binding policy of Windows 3.0." And over at Tidbits Matt Neuburg reported, "It appears that Apple has well and truly snubbed creator codes in Snow Leopard."


LaunchCodes adds an icon to the menu bar that allows users to enable or disable creator-code-launching at any time. Even if a file's extension is not in the LaunchCodes preferences, the file can be opened in its creator code application by dragging it to the LaunchCodes application icon.

For those who frequently open files that were created by others and stored on a server, the use of creator codes has always been a bit problematic: the person opening the file might not want to use the same application as the person who originated the file. LaunchCodes solves this problem with a preference setting that causes the application to ignore creator codes on files that are not owned by the logged-in user.

Pricing and Availability:
LaunchCodes comes with a 30-day free trial period. It is available today from the Pagehand online store for just $4.95 (USD).


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