Practical examples of what spotlight does... (Score 3, Insightful)

...using smart folders.

If you have a mac with a ton of files, various "Previous System Folders" etc...follow along :)

I have smart folders for pdfs, avis, mpgs, and wmvs

I have these sorts of files *all over the place*...movie clips, test files, you name it.

I go to the finder, "open" the Windows Media Files folder, and they are all "there"

Or all the "archive" files (zip, rar, sit/sitx etc) i've collected and not erased in the last year...

or all of the emails i've received from japanese users...

it goes on and on.

To me, its like the whole star trek "Computer..find all of the blah blah blah for sector Whatever"

It concentrates on the "what you want" as opposed to the current paradigm of where did i pit it/what app did i use, etc