Mac keyboard shortcut for application launching...

I finally cracked an annoying UI problem having owned a Mac for a bit - How to launch an app the best using the keyboard only. Having been using Apple space to use Spotlight to launch programs without even needing to put them in the dock but found this to be slow at times as the database loads so now I have a better way:

Hit Control-F3 (I've set mine to just F3 in the Keyboard and Mouse control panel), then start typing the first three letters of the program name. For launching Firefox - which would normally be usurped by the 'Fi' in Finder, you would need to type 'Fir' and enter - pretty good and real fast too.

To get Google Earth I just use 'Goo', altho it comes us with just 'G' at this point since I haven't stuck too many programs in there yet. For iTunes - i etc.