Basic Info| App Name | RocketDock |
| App URL | http://rocketdock.com/ |
| App Version Reviewed | 1.3.5 |
| Test System Specs | Laptop Acer 1690: centrino m 2.0ghz, 1gb ddr2, win XP Pro SP2 |
| Supported OSes | Windows 2000/XP/Vista |
| Support Methods | Online help. Can't find email |
| Pricing Scheme | Freeware |
| Reviewer Donation Link |  Donate to jgpaiva, the Author |
| Relationship btwn. Reviewer and Product | none |
Intro:RocketDock is a dock program, similar to ObjectDock, YZDock, etc.
I have already used previous versions, but now i was about to try it again and thought i could take you on this trip too
Ok, so after a 6MB download and a standard install.. Here's how it looks:
That's the default bar, with 2 applications minimized. Notice how the msn-messenger window and the x-chat window got minimized to the Dock.
Both msn and x-chat have the "blink taskbar button" feature.. Let's see if it works while they are minimized to the Dock. (notice that i don't have vista, thus i can't test the live previews).
Ok... Sweet, the blink icon works, the app starts jumping up and down on the dock.
Right, so let's open the options.
ALWAYS ON TOP???? Damn you people! Ok, that's like so bad that if i wasn't doing this review I'd given up on it already.
So.. on to the preferences. The first page shows some interesting options. I specially like "open running application instance". I tested it and it works pretty well.
The second tab has some dock behaviour settings (like zoo, zoom effect, quality, etc). Nothing very interesting here.
Third tab.. Position. Cool, it can be placed on any position on the edges and even off the edges, with an offset up to 128px. And it updates the position in realtime! I'm surprised
Next.. Style! Ok.. Lots of themes to choose from and updates on realtime too. Cool
Now on to "Behaviour": just a few options like "autohide" or "icon attention effect".
Ok.. I just found a small problem:
Screenshot Captor won't minimize anymore. Not good.
Who is this app designed for:Anyone who doesn't use
FARR, will potentially be interested in RocketDock
It's a great launcher, and the fact that it can dock running apps just makes it even better
The GoodWell.. Invariably, in this kind of apps, the first thing we notice is how it looks good. RocketDock makes a great impression in that field, with lots of pre-bundled themes (and possibility of downloading even more from the web).
It also has a beautiful
minimize animation (even though it's a bit too slow).
Interesting also, is the fact that it uses high quality icons, even when windows doesn't use them:
Minimize running apps is a great feature, and apparently now it's working way better than the last time i tested it, as it only gives me trouble with SC.
The needs improvement sectionOk.. There are 2 obvious items in this section: the "preferences always on top" "feature" and the minimize running apps problem.
About the first: What's up with that? It's not a good idea, it's annoying as hell and anyone who does that should be ran over by a truck.
About the second: there have been huge improvements since the last time i tried this, now it really is usable (last time apps would disappear, or stay on screen when minimized, etc etc etc). BUT it still has problems with SC, which can't be minimized through the minimize button, and when i minimize it with ahk, it gets in the dock, but still remains on screen in the following form:
There's also 3 other problems:
It doesn't have tabs on the bars like
ObjectDock which might be useful for some, and it doesn't support disk browsing like
LaunchBar Commander does (or any other menus, for that matter).
It also doesn't support tray icon docking, which doesn't allow it to fully replace the windows taskbar
Why I think you should use this productOverall, it's a pretty good app, and way more mature than the last time i tried it. Right now, and while mouser's
LaunchBar Commander is "under development", this is a cool free alternative to ObjectDock, specially for those that don't need to launch lots of programs.
It's easy to configure, easy to add and remove programs from, and looks good. Definitely recommendable.
How does it compare to similar appsWell.. I think i sort of already covered that in the above points
ConclusionsEven though I'm not much of a launch-bar kind of guy, i think this'd be the kind of stuff I'd recommend to people who like Mac OSX's Dock or are just looking for a simple launchbar to launch their frequent shortcuts.
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