So you’re friend has a Mac and can’t resist showing it off for you. You feel inferior because, while you know your PC probably performs exactly the same, you know your friend had enough cash to blow on a product that cost twice as much as yours and the only difference is the glowing fruit on the back – and the nifty shelf where his icons hang out. Fortunately, you’re in luck. Not because I have some marketing scheme that will net you the difference to waste on an apple product, but rather an amazing, some would say superior, Windows alternative to the Apple OSX dock.

There are many programs that serve the same function and have the same look as what you find on an apple but the best by far are RocketDock and ObjectDock. The two programs, once installed, will auto-start with your computer. They’ll reside wherever you tell them to and serve as a location to stick icons, hide shortcuts, and even provide an alternative to the windows taskbar. You can set them to always be on the screen or hide just off the edge and appear on mouse over (as I do). With plugins on RocketDock or the standard build of ObjectDock you can turn the program into a complete replacement of your taskbar minimizing windows straight to the dock, just as in OSX.

The major difference between the two programs is that RocketDock is completely free while ObjectDock exists in a free and pay version with upgraded features. Additionally, RocketDock has a large community developing pugins and extensions that can be downloaded from their website. It should be mentioned that both programs are skinnable offering skins on their websites though I find the best selection resides at deviantART.

I personally use RocketDock as I feel it more than covers my needs and uses a smaller memory footprint than ObjectDock (only around 5.3mb). The greatest advantage a dedicated docking program offers is the ability to view icons and launch programs without having to minimize to the desktop. This enables powerusers to shave off a few seconds from their computing session and is the same experience that mac users currently enjoy.

Simple, lightweight, attractive, and fast, these programs greatly enhance the navigation experience of your computing.

[via ViaTorci.com]