[curt.clifton]

Originally Posted by alexius

I agree with many of the points raised here. Specifically, I think one of the troubles with perspectives is that it's not always so clear which one you're in. It takes some snooping around, especially if you have the tool/view bars hidden (funny, just as I was typing this I went to my review perspective, didn't see any change in my OF window, selected it again from the menu, and realized I was already in it!).

Smart groups, other differences aside, don't have this issue.

I'm in favor of smart groups, but this argument for them is specious. If I hide the side bar (assuming that's where the smart groups live), but leave the toolbar, then smart groups have the disadvantage and perspectives don't. That said, perspectives could do with more aggressive highlighting in the tool bar.

I think the main benefits of smart groups are more powerful boolean expressions (like flagged or due soon) and easier discoverability, since they are a common feature of applications like Mail and iTunes.