Docking the Apps on XP



Today I was setting up a Dell laptop someone in our department had purchased and I noticed it came with a very Mac like docking application called Dell Dock. This is apparently a free download you can install on any Dell PC running XP or Vista, but it will supposedly not run on a non-Dell system. It does indeed work a lot like the Mac dock and is fairly easy to configure to your own tastes. Since the vast majority of systems around here are Dell systems that could be quite useful for setting up easy to use desktops and laptops for people. I was curious what free alternatives there are now for non-Dell PC's and ObjectDock currently appears to be the most popular. The one with the best name is Moby Dock, which appears to have stopped development, and others include RocketDock and Aqua Dock. Since I had set up our user's Dell Dock system to launch her limited set of applications, I thought I would try ObjectDock on my Dell Latitude to see how it compared. So I downloaded their free version and started up the install. Right away it complained because I was running IE 6 and not IE 7 or 8! But I never use IE! This seemed like a good reason to jump from IE 6 straight to IE 8 which I have been meaning to do anyway. So I installed IE 8 and then I could install ObjectDock. Once it installed it really puts the Dell Dock to shame with a lot more configuration options and just looking snazzy and running quickly too. The Dell Dock really looks staid and corporate in comparison with very few options available to change.

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