I rarely use the Spotlight or Start Menu keyboard searching because of stuff like this. If it doesn't reliably produce the right result each time if you only type a small amount of the name - which it doesn't - what's the point?

(Call me crazy, but because of this I've come to not mind the basic Windows 8 start screen. It's not as good as the classic start menu, but compared to the Windows 7 one you can at least arrange it for quick access to a larger number of programs.)

This. I previously loved Spotlight but it's getting strange in its old age. For example, if I type "i" or "it" or "ite" or "iter", Spotlight predicts "iTerm". But if I actually type "iTerm" in full it takes me to "Go2Shell" in the App Store – because it has the word "iterm" in the patch notes of the most recent version. Useful.

I use quicksilver and gnome do and launchy. The searches never worked the way should for me either.

You can change the order (and availability of) Spotlight results in the System Prefs http://imgur.com/iElMwe7

With Ubuntu, I had tried to launch brasero, the CD burning application, so I start typing 'bra...' and start seeing ads for women's bras. Thanks Ubuntu, that's helpful.