Rocketdock here.

berribrand

Sorry yeah one thing i didn't mention no stacks in Rocketdock. But it still a great program.

Felix26591

they should have used rocketdock MUCH BETTER and supports the live minimize'd previews etc instead of the taskbar like stupid object dock forces

[www.rocketdock.com]

phantam

I've been using rocketdock for a while in XP and i have to say this piece of dell software is sort of stupid, Rocketdock works better than OS X dock much more customizable and you get the bouncing icons and the minimize to dock action and it's free to put anywhere you like. Even thouh i still prefer OS X over windows i still miss a few of the customizations i had with Rocketdock.

Felix26591

@TendoMentis: "RocketDock is STILL better, and free, and doesn't require obscene amounts of system memory to run..."

Hey thanks for that! I'd never heard of RocketDock and just tried it - very nice! Cheers!

EnochLight

I have been using the normal Stardock for a while, and while no where near the usability of the OS X Dock, after some tweaking I have it working decently. I do really miss Stacks though when using it.

rup3t

@shamoononon has a hebetudinous dog: There are exceptions, but I live in Orange County, CA. Fake boobs and dumb blonds are all over suburbia.

innout3x3

@Rabid Penguin:

one thing i liked about NeXT was the Shelf - so much so that i found a shelf extension for linux. i love it.

nutbastard

Dock, spock. I'm all about the winkey hotkeys, which I've been using since around windows 95 I think.

lordargent

Stardock's dock sucks.

Rocketdock ftw

[rocketdock.com]

It'll even steal the windows taskbar items, and display nice screenshots of your open apps. Oh, and its EFF ARR Double E fREE

matty323

One thing I think is odd about this assessment of the dock is the complaint that you can't go to the dock to open up your applications, and you have to go to the normal windows taskbar to do so...

The taskbar also can provide notifications by applications (albeit, simple, blinking ones).

So, doesn't the task-bar provide the same functionality as the dock in that respect anyways? Is it just that you prefer to go to something with pretty graphics to change your tasks?

I guess I think docks are pretty dumb to begin with (including Apple's), so Dell's dock failing isn't really big news.

Keebler

Just download and run Stardock's ObjectDock. The basic one is free and kicks the crap outta Dell's gimped POS. You can use it as a taskbar replacement, and the icons can be set to "bounce" when you activate them, if you really are that much of a Mac-aholic. I don't think the AIM icon bounces when you get a message... I haven't used AIM in years.

Heres the link: [www.stardock.com]

whiteknight89

I have hotkeys on the keyboard for my apps, I keep the recycle bin on my desktop and that's it. I use the QuickLaunch in a pinch. Dock and Sidebar be damned. On a side note, I'm pretty sure you can make active apps in the systray blink (Pidgin does this if I'm not mistaken).

meefer

@LittleJon: I assume he means similar to OSX in terms of its aesthetics and (implied) functionality. I don't think he is trying to say that apple owns (or invented) the concept.

@rasbill: Seriously? Thanks for taking the time to post on something you don't care about.

atuck

@shamoononon has a hebetudinous dog: No. I wouldn't use it if it did though.

Rabid Penguin

Meh. I've never been impressed with the dock. Give me a start menu and a quick launch bar for those 5 or 6 apps that I launch often enough to justify it.

Mio

RocketDock is STILL better, and free, and doesn't require obscene amounts of system memory to run, and looks more Mac like (if you're into that, not that there's anything wrong with that).

TendoMentis

@Rabid Penguin: Did your Vista come with that lame google desktop thing? That was by far the worse, screwed everything up.

shamoononon has a hebetudinous dog

@LittleJon: Nobody said Apple invented the dock... But it was first in nextstep. An OS created by another Steve Jobs company.

Rabid Penguin

@olafson: Well, since Windows triggers an event for the taskbar item to blink when you have an AIM message, it's very conceivable that Stardock could add a listener for that event and cause the icon (whether it's AIM or any other attention whoring app) to waggle. It (from a technical standpoint) shouldn't be all that overly involved.

singlecoilpickup

I have several Dell computers and I can say that this dock is about as appealing as playing spin the bottle with three feminists, a chimpanzee and a toasted hot dog bun. Thanks for confirming my suspicion that it's a piece of crap.

Hectorvex

As to docs being "dumb." OK. I prefer not to spelunk the start menu for frequently used apps or clutter my desktop.

I've been using docs since my Next and Amiga days. They are useful. There's nothing I despise more than a desktop with a bazillion damn icons on it.

olafson

does it auto-hide? if it didn't that would drive me nuts.. it takes up so much of the screen.. and pretty much is useless if there's no interactivity between it (dock) and the programs..

robot-shmobot

@innout3x3: "Pretty, but dumb (kinda like a blond)." -- Watch yourself!!

shamoononon has a hebetudinous dog

Call me crazy, but I use quick keys for everything and run most of my programs through the Run Dialog (winkey+R), so I don't care where my programs minimize too :c) Another toolbar would just get in the way. I don't even use the silly Vista widget-sidebar-thingy.

Rabid Penguin

Wouldn't the dock slow you down anyhow? I don't know, I have a fairly tidy desktop (basically just about nothing linked to it). I enjoy going into my documents and program files and rearranging things... but I'm OCD.

shamoononon has a hebetudinous dog

There ARE more OSXish docks available for Windows. In fact, IIRC, Stardock's dock CAN be set up to do essentially everything the OSX dock does (although this Dell version might lack those options).

Still doesn't wow me. I've never been a fan of the dock, and I prefer the standard windows bar to it, any day. Neater, easier to see what's what (especially with some tweaks), and it takes up less screen real estate. The OSX dock is flashy and clever, but it's just not how I want to interact with my computer.

typoink

looks like the quicklaunch panel i used to build on my Gnome desktop in Fedora. Nothing special at all, and sad that windows doesn't let you customize your desktop to this degree in the first place.

jorvay

Apple did not invent the dock! Sun's Solaris had it way before OS X was released.

Why does everyone think that Apple invents everything?

LittleJon

I use the Stardock version and it can hold running apps and you can replace the windows task bar. But I don't.

As to your AIM ICON not waggling. BFD. Get a mac if you want a Mac dock with wagling icons. Seriously. To waggle the icon on the doc would require some sort of API that apps would need ot support and since this is a 3rd party doc and not part of the OS that is unlikely. Although I guess Stardock could hack it up.

olafson

I tried stardock a while back ago. Pretty, but dumb (kinda like a blond).

innout3x3

They should've just enabled the Quick Launch toolbar. It functions just as well as this gimped dock.

Captain Bringdown

Very Dumb!

alexpr

nobody cares about this dell dock, just thought u should know

rasbill

i meant to say your

cf292010

dude i love you background. What is it?

cf292010

@carmen loves sexist gizmodians: Apple did have a pretty good idea for their Mac OSX UI... buyout NeXT and bring Steve Jobs back to make the next iteration of NeXTSTEP on Macs (OSX) :c)

Rabid Penguin

I just tried object dock... I think it sucks. I feel as if I betrayed my Rocket Dock, Im Sorry!

Charging_Mooses

@MosesMonster: If you ask me, they should've just improved on the Quicklaunch menu in the taskbar. It would keep things pretty simplified.

Kaiser-Machead's Chips Ahoy!

YAAY! Adult Swim wallpapers FTW. I'm rocking squidbillies at the moment, sonnn....

honozooloo

@fastthumbs: Its one of the bump backgrounds that airs on [adult swim] during the anime block. Michael Cahill, the Senior Editor in On-Air, designed them from photos he took while over in Japan. There's a whole series of them available on their website (Downloads

kodo

I never liked docks. And Dell shouldn't have to emulate what Mac's have and do. They should find out what they can do different and stick to that. Clones are clones, but its the stand alones that make a product worth while. Find your muse Dell and get in the game.

As for those backgrounds, those are sick, where are those from?

MosesMonster

WOOPS, wrong post

shamoononon has a hebetudinous dog

@innout3x3: It smells like a used diaper filled with Indian Food

shamoononon has a hebetudinous dog

Dock, Spock, big deal! Where are the Dell E, E-Slim, E4200, E6400, etc?

Rick36

hands down, Apple had a genius idea for the layout of Macs, they can copy all they want but obviously they keep failing. I downloaded the Stardock dock and it was ridiculously lame.

carmen loves sexist gizmodians

What is that awesome desktop you've got? Does the clock change or is it just a photo?

fastthumbs

@LittleJon...
1) It was never stated that Apple invented the Dock.
2) Solaris started in the early 1990s, NeXTSTEP had the Dock in the mid-80 to late 1980s.
3) The one credited for is the now defunct Acorn computers, though the dock was even more feature-less than Dell's poor app.

Leonard Nimrod

Pretty, but lifeless... must... refrain... from... commenting... XD

hammertime94

To be honest, that sounds perfect, I don't like maximizing my windows using a dock, cos I can't see what site I have open instantly or what project I'm working on, so I just use AWN under Ubuntu for exactly what this dock does. Sign me up!

slibuntu

it only looks like the OSX dock

zed0

I saw this at Dell a few weeks ago. The real value of the dock is that it is an easy way to tell people about the features on their new PC. Think about the Apple dock. Yes, the mail notifications are cool, but for Apple it's most valuable function is that it tells you about all the cool things that you can do with your mac. iMovie, iDVD, iPhoto, Mail, etc... these are all really cool things that come with your mac.

If there were no dock, then you would have to find them on your own or get an alert, or RTFM or whatever. So, good for Dell figuring out the first part. Now they need to realize that their free apps suck ass; that although you can buy iLife, most people get it for free, and then get Stardock to add some notifications to the dock.

Yes, it isn't the Apple dock but it is a step in the right direction and shows that Dell is trying to create a better experience.

skylark64

Didn't I make a joke about this RE:Leopard skin?

ripfire

people buy dells? I thought PC guys were the "smarter" ones and built their own. I have never purchased a prebuilt PC. To me thats why you get a PC is the process of building your own. Still a mainly mac guy though.

odnet

@honozooloo: I've got the same desktop mr. buchanan has. [adult swim] FTW!

Plastique

Matt, if you really are into docks, I think there are better, more useful free options out there.

And I swear to God I hope this is your only disappointment.
I have an M1330, and after a month on hell with Vista Ultimate, I finally gave up and bought another HDD to install XP instead.

At least my M1330 was completely useless with Vista. Not even Windows ME gave me the amount of crap Vista gave me on it.

Bokusatsu_Tenshi

As many people have said, Stardock's Object Dock can and does do everything that you're missing. Except for the AIM icon. I find it pretty useful and it confuses the hell out of people when they come over and see my windows box with a dock. It's kind of surprising to me that Dell's "custom dock" wouldn't have the same features that Stardock's OD would have normally. Then again, it is a dell.

piano08man

it's so slooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooow

Costermonger

I've never liked Apple's taskbar-wannabe. When it gets loaded with icons that have no labels, it becomes cluttered. Then, nothing changes when you launch a program; there's just a tiny triangle underneath to indicate that the program is launched. I cannot tell, at a quick glance, exactly what is running on the Mac. On Windows, I can (except for icons on the systray... and I disable as much of that garbage as I can get away with!), since everything on the taskbar is running, and has a text label next to it so I can tell what it is without having to mouse over it.

Soundman1402

@odnet. Build a lot of laptops, do you?

itchytooth

So just to get back to the dock, I've used object dock for years, its FREE (there is a paid for version with extra features like multiple docks)
I've found to be perfect for my needs, No icons needed just a nice glossy dock, I'm glad dell are giving it away on their systems, if you don't want it turn it off !
Apple did not invent the dock and neither did next, OS2 has had one for many years, infact stardock used to make one for OS2.
APPLE rarely invent anything they just tend to market stuff right.

Fourthletter

@Costermonger: Yes, yes I am.

shamoononon has a hebetudinous dog

Stardock rules.

wetworker

@Bokusatsu_Tenshi: Actually once all the crapware is off of it, I think the M1330 is a really well designed Windows laptop. I don't mind Vista either, I run it on both of my main computers and it's fine. The real trick to Vista smoothness is having enough RAM and a discrete graphics card. Whether or not it should be that way is a separate debate.

matt buchanan

@singlecoilpickup: The tray icon is part of the running app, so ObjectDock would need to hook those events, and I'm not sure how much Vista allows /wrt apps trapping events that are not intended for them.

I'm not getting all the dock hate here. Docks are not for everyone, sure, but don;t bash 'em until you have actually used them. There are other options out there as well, not just ObjectDock.

olafson

i have the paid for stardock, and i like it to keep things tidy, but i don't use it on any of the lappys i admin for
my eee, and some dells

godwhacker

@Plastique:

I just used the same wallpaper last week...using a Diablo 3 one now. :)

Fuzi Lojak

@LittleJon: Hi there, and welcome to the internet. Here are the rules:

1. Every person who has ever achieved anything in all of history has Irish blood.
2. Everything bad that has ever happened in all of history is the fault of the English.
3. Apple invented everything.

Abide by The Three Truths Of The Internet and you'll get along just fine.

Happy surfing!

DelSource

The reviewer needs to calm down. You can get much of the functionality of OSX' Dock, you just have to tweak the settings. Otherwise, it really is just a pretty shortcut bar. Get over it man.

EnzoFX

That's been my wallpaper for the last 2 years or so...I feel kind of strange now...

kyberneticka

If you don't like the explorer windows manager, you can switch it out for litestep, it replaces explorer(at least as far as the right click menu and taskbar go) and is extremely customizable, it uses a pretty simple scripting language to customize and there's already plenty of litestep themes made to choose from. I played with it for a while and it's pretty sweet.

jackfrost132

@Felix26591:

Hate to brake your stride, but I have Stacks in my Rocketdock. Its a Docklet. You can find it on their site.

You're so lucky this isn't slashdot.

Ghostbear

@Hectorvex: I love the randomness of those examples!

rudolphdude

I tack very little to nothing onto my windows experience and I also keep a few icons upper left.

What's here works for me.

Dell should stick to wowing me with that "E Video +" that's coming out next month allegedly.

Hardware.

strider_mt2k

It's been mentioned before, but you can download a docklet for RocketDock that gives you the Stacks functionality of its OSX cousin.

[rocketdock.com]

.endejas.

There are a lot of Mac-like Docks, some of the are fine, but not the same.., some are as good as the original (almost though), don't know if there are better one's... but I think that Dell's dock is one of the "fine, but not the same".

ArtooBE

Notice the pixelated right side of the wallpaper? That is because the background is actually a wallpaper from Adult Swim - nice one, Dell - so pretty.

s2nami

I've never found any of the docks more useful than the Windows taskbar. Not sure what the fuss is about. I don't want my PC more like a Mac, I want it less like one. I like substance over style, and the Windows taskbar, to me, is drastically more substance. I've got my start menu (which when I use a Mac, I find nothing quite as useful), my Quick Launch bar which makes launching my apps extremely easy with the Windows+key combos, I've got my current applications with clear descriptions of what they are visible, and my notification and clock area. This is great to me. I've tried many, many dock alternatives over the years, and none has been as useful.

TurboFool

I've been using a stardock dock for years and it works flawlessly.

Collins1