MacOS – Keyboard shortcut for switching windows not working in Yosemite

I ended up getting Alfred's power pack and setup a hotkey there. It's much much faster than the automator service.

You can use KeyRemap4MacBook to for example turn the right option into an extra modifier key for opening applications:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<root>
  <vkopenurldef>
    <name>KeyCode::VK_OPEN_URL_FINDER</name>
    <url>file:///System/Library/CoreServices/Finder.app</url>
  </vkopenurldef>
  <vkopenurldef>
    <name>KeyCode::VK_OPEN_URL_SAFARI</name>
    <url>file:///Applications/Safari.app</url>
  </vkopenurldef>
  <item>
    <name>test</name>
    <identifier>test</identifier>
    <autogen>__KeyToKey__ KeyCode::OPTION_R, KeyCode::VK_MODIFIER_EXTRA1</autogen>
    <autogen>__KeyToKey__ KeyCode::F, ModifierFlag::EXTRA1, KeyCode::VK_OPEN_URL_FINDER</autogen>
    <autogen>__KeyToKey__ KeyCode::S, ModifierFlag::EXTRA1, KeyCode::VK_OPEN_URL_SAFARI</autogen>
  </item>
</root>

See http://osxnotes.net/keyremap4macbook.html for more examples.

If you have bought the Powerpack for Alfred 2, you can use workflows like this:

Hotkeys have a short delay by default, but you can reduce it by changing the trigger behavior: