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July 9th 2007
(3) Rocket Dock
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Like many self-respecting users of a computer, I like to maintain a clean and tidy desktop. For some reason, I find it hard to find the balance with having a desktop that is both tidy and something that looks good. I don’t like to use the quick launch toolbar because it takes up space for open programs and I like to appreciate the wallpaper I have on my desktop without looking through the jungle of icons and folders scattered about.
I have finally found the answer to my problems although I must admit the answer is Apple-inspired; something not everyone easily admits. RocketDock is a OS X inspired dock for Microsoft Windows that does things other docks try to do and fail. Multi-monitor support, beautiful PNG transparency support and best of all it’s free.
A Dock on Windows?!
Yes, having a dock on Windows is considered blasphemy by many people but if we just put aside any allegiances you’ll see why a dock can save space, time and resources. RocketDock has nice smooth drag and drop functionality - drag a program to it, drop it there and you’re sorted! The program icon will appear along with it’s title in the dock. One problem that faces all applications of this type is that the icons that developers provide with their applications are not of high quality - besides from Apple, I noticed - so I had to go around looking for high quality logos or just create an icon that looked like the program. The hassle is worth it though as the icons look absolutely stunning.
On such a note: if you would like the high resolution icons I’ve collected, just leave a comment and I’ll sort you out. The dock can be positioned either at the top or bottom or the left or the right of your screen. The configuration utility provided also lets you adjust centering and the offset of the dock so it’s really customisable as far as position goes.
Just Dock It!
RocketDock stores my most used programs and places on my computer and has enabled me to speed up the things I do. Things are now one click away instead of two or three and my boot time as decreased - not much - by a few seconds because there’s nothing on my desktop except this any more.
From the official site, this is a list of features but no list of features can describe the dock in its true beauty. Below is also a list of alternative dock applications. Give them a try out if you’re interested and leave a comment. I’m going to try a few out over the next couple days and see how they compare but I think it’s safe to say that RocketDock is for me… atleast until I neglect my desktop once again.
- Minimize windows to the dock
- Real-time window previews in Vista
- Running application indicators
- Simple drag-n-drop interface
- Multi-monitor support
- Supports alpha-blended PNG and ICO icons
- Icons zoom and transition smoothly
- Auto-hide and Popup on mouse over
- Positioning and layering options
- Fully customizable
- Completely Portable
- ObjectDock Docklet support
- Compatible with MobyDock, ObjectDock, RK Launcher, and Y’z Dock skins
- Runs great on slower computers
- Unicode compliant
- Supports many languages and can easily be translated
Leave a comment once you’ve downloaded it and had a go! Get docking people…
Today Steve Jobs announced the availability of Safari 3 via a public beta. Although this was interesting news, what was more interesting was the announcement that Safari 3 is now also available for Windows! To some, this may be the news they’d been wanting to hear for a long time but to others it may just be another sign of impending world destruction. My personal opinion is that this move is at least one step in the right direction for Apple. It will certainly make my life as a developer much more easier as I won’t have to rely on services such as Dan Vine’s 
When I was listening to the news the other day, I could not believe what I was hearing. I thought the news was replaying a clip from cold war era. Russian President Vladimir Putin was threatening to aim potentially nuclear weapons at sites around Europe because some countries had agreed to play host to American anti-missile and radar sites. If it’s his aim to piss off most of the world, he’s succeeded. I’m going to allow myself some less than appropriate language here and say to mister former secret agent; where the hell do you get off threatening Europe with missile attack? Have you been in a coma for the past sixty years? Mr. Putin, why are you so against a defence system for Europe and America? Is it because it’s America’s system? I don’t understand you, Mr. Putin, why don’t you want me to be safe from the evil in the world? Well, enough of those common words. Let us enjoy a read and discuss the implications of America’s new ‘defence’ system.
I don’t usually talk on here about my political beliefs and my ideas to do with politics because this is a technology focused blog. This time though, I want my thoughts to go on public record rather than hiding them away in the depths of my LiveJournal account.